Second Dawn
by Davner
Summary: In order to save him, she had to make it so they never met. But destiny is much harder to change than time, and hope always has a place in a lover's heart. A sequel to Yumi Touma's "First End." The final chapter is up.
1. Right Number

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma. "Joey" belongs to Concrete Blonde.

_Foreword: When I heard that there was going to be an AMG! novel, I was pretty jazzed. I'm not a big manga guy, I prefer novels for the amount of detail you can get. When I finally read "First End," I was very disappointed. The story was such a downer, and I felt that Ms. Touma's characterizations of Keiichi and Belldandy in particular were off. I couldn't believe that I didn't like it. It bothered me, particularly how it ended things._

_So, be forewarned. This is a continuation of the book "First End." If you haven't read it, you're probably going to be lost. If you have read it, this story picks up at the moment the book ended._

_I hope you enjoy it._

_Davner_

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 1**

**Right Number**

The phone rang again.

The goddess's hand hung over it as if suspended there by some unknown force. The most natural thing in the world for her, something she had done thousands of times before, was to pick it up and answer it. It was the first step in granting a wish, and yet...

It rang again, and still she paused.

The ring Skuld had given her that morning twinkled in the light over the device. Why did she pause? The person on the other end of the phone was a client, someone who was to be offered Heaven's Grace. There was nothing to fear from them.

Another ring. Other goddesses in the office were now craning their heads around the walls of their cubicles to see what the problem was. She knew without looking that that's what they were doing, and yet she didn't turn to them or react. Her eyes were transfixed on the phone.

"Um... Are you going to get that?" one of the other granting goddesses asked her pointedly.

She didn't answer as the phone rang again.

_Why do I hesitate?!_ she asked herself. She couldn't explain it, she just knew that answering that phone was the _wrong thing to do!_

Silence.

As if snapping awake from a dream, her hand darted to the phone and snatched it up.

"Hello!" she cried into the receiver. "Hello!? Are you there?!"

Only a dial tone answered her. A ball of ice plunged into her stomach as she began to realize what she had done. The stars themselves had to align perfectly before a goddess and client were matched up. There was no redial, no Star-69. It was her job to grant that person's wish... and she failed.

_You didn't fail,_ the professional side of her scolded her. _Failing implies you tried and did not succeed. You simply turned your back on your holy duty..._

Tears threatened to appear in her eyes. What had she done?

"Belldandy?"

Her head whipped around to the sound of the voice so fast, she was sure she would break her own neck. "Hai?" she asked.

Freya, the goddess in charge of the Goddess Help Line, stood at the end of the line of cubicles. Her blonde hair and perfect features could not lessen the disapproving look that was glaring accusingly at Belldandy.

"I'd like to speak with you alone," the elder goddess said politely before turning and walking away.

The rest of the granters looked at her in concern and wonder. Belldandy was one of the best granters in Heaven. Why would she simply freeze like that?

Belldandy took a breath and rose from her chair, giving one last look at the phone now sitting silently on her desk.

_Who were you?_ she wondered. _I'm so sorry..._

Turning, she followed Freya down the hall.

Rather than end up in the other goddess's office, Freya led her outside into the courtyard garden and stood near the small waterfall and pond at the far right corner, admiring the multi-colored plants and flowers that were blooming there.

The sights were lost on Belldandy. The young goddess was staring at the ground in shame, bracing herself for the scolding that was sure to come.

Freya regarded her carefully for several moments before speaking. "Belldandy," she began quietly. "What's wrong?"

"Ms. Freya?" Belldandy asked, her gaze rising to meet the older goddess's.

The head of the Help Line took a breath. "Missing a call, Belldandy?" she asked. "That's not like you. What happened?"

Belldandy swallowed nervously, painfully aware that _she_ didn't even know what happened. "The phone rang," she said. "And... I didn't answer it," she answered honestly. "I don't know why I didn't," she went on after a moment of silence between the two. "I just... Something inside me said I shouldn't... that it was important that I not answer that call..."

Freya took a breath and put her knuckles to her lips in thought. "Was there some warning from another goddess or..."

The young granter shook her head. "No, nothing like that!" she said, a tear running down her cheek. "I simply... failed to act..."

Turning away from her, Freya took a step toward the garden as Belldandy waited for her punishment.

"We have a duty, Belldandy, to make people happy by acting as the conduits of the Almighty's will," Freya told her. "Whether we agree with that will or not is irrelevant..."

"I don't disagree!" Belldandy defended. "I don't even know who this person is!"

"Whoever they are," Freya replied, turning back to her. "They have lost their opportunity for a happiness _you_ were supposed to provide!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Belldandy..."

"Please, Ms. Freya!" Belldandy begged. "Let me make this right! I don't know why I didn't act! I can't explain it to myself so how can I explain it to you?! All I know is that... I... I failed." She swallowed back a sob and took a breath. "Is there any way I can make this right?"

The elder goddess studied her for several moments, unsure what to think. Belldandy was one of her best granters. This was so out of character for her...

But the bottomline was that she had a duty and she didn't do it. She had to punish her. She couldn't play favorites with her girls. She sighed.

"Go home," she said. "I'll think about it."

Belldandy wiped tears from her eyes. "Hai," she said. She turned and started for the door. Stopping at her desk to pick up her things, her eyes fell once again on the silent phone, its rotary dial staring accusingly at her.

"Who were you?" she whispered aloud.

888

"Keiichi Morisato," Hild whispered with a smile as she sat on her onyx throne at the heart of the Demon Realm. She stared into a small spherical crystal that held the real-time image of a young man sitting by himself in a dorm room. She watched as he dialed a phone and waited...

She bit her lip. The suspense was awful... She hoped it would last...

The boy hung up the phone and tried another number. Hild's eyes went to the mirror over the boy's shoulder.

Nothing.

The demonic queen closed her eyes in ecstacy. "Glorious," she whispered.

A year-and-a-half of planning, of careful calculation, had all come down to this one moment, and she exulted in it, basking in the warm feeling that came when a historic moment turned just the way she wanted it to.

"I love it when a plan comes together," she noted with a grin. It was the understatement of the millenia, and anyone who had seen this plan in action would say so. It was unfortunate that so few gods and demons retained linear memories the way she did, allowing her to remember events even after they'd been changed by alterations to the timestream.

She had tried to undermine the Norns through time manipulation before when she went into Morisato's past and inserted herself into his life as his girlfriend. The three goddesses had gone back to stop her, and sure enough, that damn _connection_ between Morisato and Belldandy had gotten the better of her. It became obvious to her then that time manipulation wasn't the way to go... until she found out about the singularity.

Nidhogg had alerted her that there was something odd about the way Yggdrasil had been acting for three years, but she hadn't paid much attention. It wasn't until the demonic computer system, working on its own, had discovered a connection between Yggdrasil and Morisato that she stood up and took notice. For a year and a half, she watched the singularity between Yggdrasil and Morisato grow like a tumor, knowing that when it was finally broken she would either win or be given an opportunity to accept a smaller victory.

So she planned and schemed and manipulated. It was art, a work of love.

And she now had her "smaller victory."

Her daughter had almost screwed it up, of course. By not resetting Nidhogg at the same time as Yggdrasil, her demon blood allowed her to retain her memories and created a separate universe, and Hild had to conduct some off-the-cuff spinning and tale-telling to make sure things worked out the way they were supposed to. But she had done it.

Belldandy and Keiichi never met. She could have him at any time.

She smiled. It was truly beautiful. Of course, there was a downside: She couldn't take him herself. After all, the arch-demoness and ruler of the Demon Realm didn't just go to Earth and pick up college boys just for the Hell of it. The Valkyries watching her would surely take notice and wonder what she was doing. She would simply have to live vicariously through another, and who better than...

The doors to the throne room opened, and her chamberlain entered.

"Your Majesty," he said with a bow. "The Duchess of Malebolge has arrived."

Hild smiled, a genuine act of happiness at this news. "Send her in."

The demoness entering a moment later stood a head shorter than Hild. While she did not gain her mother's height, she did inherit her hair. A streak of violet in her hair interrupted the river of moonlight that hung in a pony-tail nearly to the floor, a colorful reminder of her father that matched her eyes, likewise passed down from the general-priest Hild had at one point mated with.

Hild rose to her feet and offered her hands to her youngest daughter. "Sitri, it's so good to see you."

The demoness smiled back as she approached her mother, her blood-red skirt swishing around her legs, and took her mother's hands.

"Mother," she said in greeting. "When I received your letter, I knew I had to come. It was so... intriguing. What is it you need me to do?"

Hild studied Sitri's face. Unlike her older daughter, Sitri had no qualms about acting in her mother's interest. If anything, it was Sitri who often took things too far; her zeal and cold-heartedness were legendary in the Demon Realm.

The arch-demoness held up a crystal. "There's a young man I want you to meet," she said with a smile.

888

The goddess growled to herself as she approached the front door of the home she had grown up in and turned the doorknob. She loved her sisters, she truly did, but this idea they had that they could summon her at will as if she were nothing but a servant was truly annoying. She may be the youngest, and true she didn't join in the "family business," but she had her own responsibilities, and she couldn't just toss those aside whenever they wanted a favor.

That wasn't a completely fair statement, of course. River would have had nothing to do with it. She was constantly... busy... after all. No... this was Oracle's doing... again.

The goddess tossed her hair, aware that now that it was approaching mid-morning, it was turning from a burning gold to a bright yellow. Oracle could go on about how important it was that she meet with them as soon as possible, but Aurora was the goddess of the dawn, and she wasn't going to leave her job early just to entertain her older sister's "emergencies."

She entered the parlor and found her oldest sister sitting on the sofa, her lips moving so rapidly that, as usual, Aurora had no idea what she was saying.

"Good morning, River," Aurora told her.

The other goddess, a tall, willowy woman with dark brown hair, waved in reply, but did not look at her or speak to her. Her lips continued moving, silently speaking to no one.

"Where's Oracle?" Aurora sighed. "She's having another 'crisis.'"

River pointed to the balcony that overlooked the Styx, and Aurora headed toward it. Opening the glass door, she found their middle sister looking out at the river, her blonde hair blowing lazily in the breeze.

Sensing the other goddess there, she turned and smiled. "Aurora, I'm so glad you came!"

Aurora bit back a retort. She always came when Oracle called. If she didn't, her sister would simply call, page, e-mail, text message and carrier pigeon her constantly until she did.

"Okay," the fiery blonde began in resignation. "What is it this time? Did you get stood up? Lose your keys? What?"

Oracle stepped toward her and placed her hands on the younger goddess's shoulders.

"We've lost three years," she said simply.

Aurora arched an eyebrow. "Did you check all your pockets?" she asked sarcastically.

"Aurora," Oracle warned quietly. "I'm being serious. You, me, everyone. We've lost three years of our lives."

"I thought I felt lighter today," Aurora quipped.

Oracle pursed her lips in disapproval. "It wasn't planned," she said. "It's not in the script! See?!" She held up a large book written in screen-play format.

The younger goddess sighed. "If that's so, then how do you know?"

"River told me," Oracle said. "She was sitting there, narrating like she usually does while I knitted and all of a sudden... she stopped."

That got Aurora's attention. River didn't "stop." Ever. Her job was to narrate the world. Every act of every person, mortal and immortal, everywhere, was described as it happened by her sister. She literally spoke billions of words per second. For her to stop meant...

Oracle nodded. "She stopped, looked up at me and said, 'Wait,' as if she couldn't believe what had happened."

"What _did_ happen?" Aurora asked, no longer annoyed, but enthralled with her sister's story.

"She showed me," her sister said. "Time was reset by a period of three years... twice."

"By who?" the dawn demanded. "Demons?"

Oracle shook her head. "Norns."

"The Norns?" Aurora repeated, unable to believe it. She rubbed her temples. "Them _again_?!"

The blonde smiled sheepishly. "They _have_ made something of a name for themselves recently... actually... no. Not recently... That hasn't happened now." She shook her head as if trying to get her bearings. Aurora watched in concern.

Oracle saw her expression and smiled. "It's all right," she said. "I had River restore my linear memories. It's quite... weird... to remember doing things that haven't happened yet. The problem is, however, that those things were _supposed_ to happen. The change they made is... unauthorized. And now... I don't know what's going to happen. The script I've written is no longer valid!"

"You mean the future is... unwritten?" Aurora asked in near-horror.

"No, it's still written," Oracle told her, raising the book again. "It's all right here. The problem is, they're _diverging_ from it. It has to be corrected quickly! Which... brings me to why I called you..."

Aurora sighed. "I knew it..."

Oracle smiled. "You know I can't leave River alone. I need you to handle this for me."

Another sigh. "Can't you just pick up the phone and call them or something?"

"I don't know the extent of the damage, but I do know the catalyst, the act that has been changed."

"What's that?" Aurora asked.

"A wish," Oracle told her. "Requested by a mortal man to the goddess Belldandy. It was supposed to happen today and didn't."

"And that act is really going to screw up time's script?" Aurora asked.

Oracle suddenly went evasive, looking away. "Let's just say... it doesn't help restore it..."

"Huh?"

The blonde raised her hands as if to ward off other questions. "The point is, a wish is _supposed_ to be granted! I need you to keep an eye on things and make sure it happens! Something is afoot here. This didn't occur in a vacuum. I fear the involvement of the other side in this."

"Fine," Aurora sighed. "I'll handle it."

"Thank you, Aurora!" Oracle gushed. "I knew I could count on you!"

"Whatever..."

888

Belldandy stood in Freya's office and waited patiently as her boss spoke on the phone. She wasn't certain that the conversation was about her, but several glances Freya shot in her direction hinted that it was. Finally, the blonde woman hung up and faced her, gesturing to a seat opposite of her.

"Frigga thinks we should give this one to her agency," she told Belldandy point-blank. "She said Peorth is standing by, ready to go."

The Norn went cold. This was her mistake. She should be the one to correct it. "Ms. Freya, I..."

Freya held up a hand. "I have asked her not to send her." She sighed. "If you wish to atone for this, you may," she said quietly.

"What must I do?!" Belldandy asked eagerly, shooting to her feet in anticipation.

"The call came from a place called Nekomi," Freya said. "The wisher is a young man named Keiichi Morisato."

"Keiichi Morisato," Belldandy repeated in a whisper. For some reason, the name sounded poetic to her, like something you _enjoyed_ saying or hearing.

"Go to Earth," Freya continued. "Meet with him personally and apologize. Then grant his wish. You must handle this carefully. No barging through the mirror. The highest standards of protocol must be met."

Belldandy nodded, following along.

"Make certain he is satisfied and come home," Freya concluded. "If he is satisfied, we're satisfied."

"I understand."

"I'll see you when you get back," Freya told her, handing her a piece of paper with all the pertinent information. It was obviously a dismissal.

Belldandy rose to her feet and left the office. Standing outside the door, she raised the paper and read over it.

"Keiichi Morisato," she whispered again. She smiled, unsure as to why. The name just made her smile. Or perhaps it was that she would have the opportunity to grant him happiness after all.

For some reason, her eyes wandered from the piece of paper to the hand holding it, locking onto the ring again. She blinked. Skuld didn't know where the ring had come from. Were these two things connected?

_Absurd_, she thought. _How could that even begin to be possible? I've never even heard of Keiichi Morisato before today._

"Keiichi Morisato," she whispered again. Lowering the paper, she started for the exit. She had a lot to do before she could leave for Earth.

She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, she wanted to make sure she was prepared for an extended stay.

888

"I don't get it!" Skuld cried as her sister finished tidying up the living room of the house they shared. "You've granted bunches of wishes before but you've never had to spend long down there doing it! Why is this one different?"

"Because I failed," Belldandy told her as she dusted. She wanted to make sure Skuld and Urd had a clean place to live while she was gone. She loved her sisters, but the Almighty knew _they_ weren't going to clean it...

Skuld blinked. The idea that her sister was even capable of failing at something was alien. "I don't want you to go," she finally said.

The middle Norn smiled. "It's only for a few days at most," she said. "I need to make sure I do this right. I owe it to him."

"Fine," Skuld grumbled. "But if he lays a hand on you, I'll..."

Belldandy broke in before she could finish. "Skuld, where did you get this ring?"

The youngest Norn blinked. "Huh?"

"The one you gave me this morning. Where did you get it?" Belldandy elaborated.

"Oh," Skuld said. "I don't know. It was in a box I found lying around." She shrugged. "It's got your name on it. I just assumed you lost it or something."

Belldandy said nothing.

"Why?" Skuld asked.

The middle Norn shook her head. "I just can't remember who gave it to me," she said. "That makes me sad. Someone went through a lot of effort to pick out a ring for me... and I can't even remember who it was."

Skuld shrugged. "Maybe Mama or Father?"

"Maybe," Belldandy allowed.

The younger goddess watched as her sister fretted. She couldn't imagine being so spun up about a gift. She was starting to think she shouldn't have given it to her.

"I'm sure you'll think of it," Skuld said helpfully. "You've just got a lot on your mind right now, that's all!"

Belldandy smiled. "Hai. Perhaps I do."

"Is there anything I can do?" Skuld asked.

The older goddess shook her head. "Just tell Urd I'll be back in a few days."

"Okay."

"And tell her not to worry."

"Okay."

"And please ask her not to try to help!"

"Okay!" Skuld said, exasperated.

Belldandy hugged her sister and sighed.

"I'll see you soon," Skuld sniffled.

"Hai," Belldandy promised.

888

Keiichi Morisato stepped out of the movie theater and lit a cigarette before turning right and walking down the street toward the NIT dorms. He adjusted his leather jacket against the February chill. It wasn't snowing, at least, and spring was just around the corner.

He turned to the sound of two people laughing and found a young couple walking out of the theater after him, holding hands with a sense of comfort that could only come from two people who've dated long enough to know they were in love.

Keiichi bit back a familiar pang of loneliness and replaced it with a drag from his cigarette. It was his own fault, he knew. He couldn't blame anyone else. He just wasn't good at talking to girls. The one time he tried was with Sayoko Mishima who turned him down flat. He had tried to discuss the problem once with his sister, who told him the answer was easy: Walk up to a girl and ask her out. But how could an answer that sounded so easy be so hard to actually do?

The college student walked. There was no point to staying out any longer. It was getting dark, and he was just about out of money. Not only that but once again his beloved Beemer was down until he could find an inexpensive fix for it, not an easy thing to do with a foreign bike, hence the walking.

He entered the dormitory and walked up the steps to the second floor. Offering a wave to Takehiro, who was passing him on the way to the bath, Keiichi stopped at his door, turned his key and stepped inside.

"Honey, I'm home!" he called out to the chilly darkness. Nothing but a bunch of old, broken down parts and appliances presented themselves. He had given some thought to tinkering in his off-time to raise some money, but nowadays it was actually easier to just throw old stuff away and buy something new. Unless, of course, you were a college student down on his luck, in which case, collecting junk had its advantages.

Stripping off his jacket and sweater, he reached out and hit the play button on an old cassette player before sitting down at his table.

_You know I used to wonder why,_

_I used to cry 'til I was dry,_

_Still sometimes I get a strange pain inside,_

_Oh, Joey, if you're hurt'n, so am I!_

Picking up a screwdriver in one hand and his Beemer RS's throttle assembly in the other, he began what he knew would be a long night of frustrating work.

_All is forgiven..._

_Listen... Listen..._

_If I seem to be confused,_

_I didn't mean to be with you,_

_And when I said I scared you well I guess you scared me too,_

_But we got lucky once before,_

_And I don't wanna close the door,_

_And if you're somewhere out there passed out on the floor,_

_Oh, Joey, I'm not angry anymore!_

"Augh!" he growled, tossing the part back on the table. There was nothing for it. It would just have to be replaced. He lit another cigarette in frustration and immediately set it down, rising to his feet to get a drink from his aging mini-fridge.

He pulled the tab on a soda and swore as brown fizz erupted all over his white tank top.

"Dammit!" he cried, trying to shake the sticky liquid from his hand.

"Keiichi Morisato sama?"

"What?!" he cried in frustration, forgetting for a moment that no one had entered his room so really there shouldn't be anyone calling his name. He blinked as he turned to the sound. "What?" he asked again, this time in disbelief.

In the center of his room stood the most alluring woman he had ever seen. How she got into his room suddenly wasn't important. Who she was, what she was doing there, that was important. She gazed at him with smiling eyes and her face was adorned with some kind of tattoos or body art on her forehead and cheeks.

She smiled. "Keiichi Morisato sama," she said in a musical voice. "I've been sent by the Goddess Help Line to grant you Heaven's Grace," she informed him.

He stared, wide-eyed, and had to shake his head in order to bring him back to reality.

"Did the senpais put you up to this?" he asked with a smile.

The woman shook her head. "No, Keiichi Morisato sama," she said. "I'm here because you are entitled to a great gift, a gift I have been sent here to offer you personally."

He shook his head in wonder at her. "Who are you?" he whispered.

She smiled. "I am the Goddess Sitri," the silver-tressed demoness told him. "I am your guardian angel."

**To Be Continued...**


	2. The Megumi Solution

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma. The song Sitri cites is "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash. "Devil In Disguise" is by Elvis Presley.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 2**

**The Megumi Solution**

Belldandy stepped out of the mirror and landed nimbly on the baby-blue tile below. Glancing left and right, she found the room she had appeared in abandoned. It was a public bath of some kind, a group of ten urinals lined the walls followed by a line of stalls. Glancing back into the mirror, she checked her hair to make sure it didn't fall out of place during the trip. She didn't want to appear unprofessional when she met Morisato sama.

Satisfied by what she saw, she stepped out of the NIT Math Building's men's room and suddenly realized how utterly lost she was.

The building was full of people, any one of whom could be Keiichi Morisato. She had never been to a school on Earth before. She had assumed it would be like the houses of learning in Heaven, one student for every teacher in a quiet environment suitable for meditation and self exploration, but this was totally different! There were so many people darting to and fro like ants.

She smiled, allowing the waves of positive emotion to crash over her. What a simply lovely place this was! Stepping into the hall, she started walking with the flow of traffic like a leaf floating into the rapids of a fast-moving stream.

By the odd looks and stares she was getting, Belldandy assumed that they were all a tight-knit group of friends, recognizing her as an outsider rather than wondering about the oddly dressed girl in their building. She smiled gently and waved as she passed each person as if to reassure them that she wanted to be their friend as well.

"Hello," she said as she passed one girl. "How do you do?" to a boy who walked by. "It's very nice to meet you," to another girl who rolled her eyes as she strolled away.

_They seem preoccupied,_ she thought. _They all must be quite busy._

So caught up in the emotions of meeting so many new people, she nearly forgot her true mission here. Realizing her error, she stepped in front of a boy and bowed. "Excuse me, good sir," she said. "By chance, are you Keiichi Morisato sama?"

"Babe, I'll be anyone you want if you'll just keep talking to me," the pimply-faced youth said.

Belldandy blinked at the response. "So... yes? No?"

"I'm Toshio," he said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm very very sorry," she replied quickly. "I simply must find Mr. Keiichi Morisato." She turned to another boy and asked the same question... with a similar result.

After speaking with five different young men, Belldandy started to get discouraged. There were so many people and they were all going in different directions. How was she going to find one mortal among so many?

"Excuse me?" she heard behind her. Turning, she found a short young woman wearing thick glasses staring at her.

"Hai?" Belldandy asked uncertainly. She wondered if she had broken some cultural rule by questioning those boys so forcefully. She didn't mean it. The goddess just didn't know any better.

The girl smiled encouragingly. "Are you new here? You look kinda lost."

"If by that you mean I don't know where to go, then yes, I'm quite lost!" Belldandy told her with a bow.

"Okay, don't worry," the girl said. "I'll help you out. What's your first class? I'll help you find it."

"Oh!" Belldandy cried, holding her hands up to wave away the offer. "I'm not a student. I'm looking for one."

The girl blinked. "Oh? Okay, well, that might be a little harder."

"Hai," Belldandy agreed. "There are so many." She smiled, kicking herself for her rudeness. Bowing, she introduced herself. "My name is Belldandy," she said.

The girl smiled back and bowed as well. "Hi! I'm Sora Hasegawa. It's nice to meet you."

"Hai!"

"Okay, so do you know what _their_ next class is?" the girl asked, getting back on topic. Since the obviously foreign woman was in the math building, it was reasonable to conclude that she knew the person she was looking for was taking a ma...

"No."

"Oh," the girl replied. "Did they say they'd meet you here?"

"No," Belldandy said sheepishly. "He doesn't even know who I am."

"I see." Sora sighed. "So... what _do_ you know?"

"I know his name is Keiichi Morisato sama," Belldandy replied with a smile.

Belldandy saw a look of recognition flash over the woman's face and clapped her hands together happily. "You know him!"

"Yeah, I know him," Sora said. "But he doesn't have class today."

The goddess's face fell. "He doesn't?"

"No," Sora confirmed. "But I bet he's at home!"

"Wonderful!" Belldandy cried. Again, her face fell. "I don't suppose you could tell me where that is?"

Sora smiled. "I guess he won't mind," she said. She spent several minutes giving Belldandy directions, having to be very specific due to the goddess's unfamiliarity with the area.

"Tell you what," the girl said. "I'll give him a call and let him know you're coming."

"Thank you very much!" the goddess cried, clasping her hands over Sora's.

The girl blushed just a bit and cleared her throat. "No problem."

Belldandy turned and started for the math hall's exit while Sora pulled a cell phone from her pocket. She dialed her senpai's number and waited for an answer.

"Hey!" she said in greeting. "It's Hasegawa! Yeah, I'm okay. Hey, listen," she said. "I'm at Sakai Hall, and I just met this foreign girl who was going from guy to guy asking for Keiichi Morisato. She was obviously lost, so I gave her directions to your place. I hope you don't mind." She winced a bit in anticipation of a rebuke, but sighed a moment later when one wasn't forthcoming. "Yeah, if you could meet her that would be great! I told her to cut through the park, so you could probably hook up with her there. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah, she's in this really frilly blue dress with light brown hair and blue eyes." She paused. "Okay, awesome. Thanks."

888

Sitri smiled predatorily, the phone at her ear. "Oh, it's no problem, Sora chan," she breathed into the receiver. "I'll take good care of her." She heard the door open and the familiar tempo of Keiichi's footsteps as he entered their little house only a mile from the school. "Gotta go," she said. "Don't worry. I'll find her."

Resting the phone on the cradle, she turned as Keiichi entered the room, sporting a button-down shirt and a pair of pressed khaki slacks.

"Well?" he asked nervously, holding his hands out and putting himself on display for her.

"You look very handsome, Keiichi san," she said with a bright smile. "But what's the occasion? Are we going out?" she asked.

He winced, knowing that it had been a couple of weeks since they had done something as a couple. "Um... no," he admitted. "I'm interviewing for that part time job I told you about. The one at Auto Connect."

"Oh, Keiichi san, I told you," she said, stepping forward and reaching out to adjust his collar. "You don't have to get a job. I'm a goddess. You don't have to worry about money."

"Yeah, I do," he said quietly. "It's not right for me to mooch off you, goddess or no goddess. Besides," he added, turning to pick up his keys. "It'll be good for making connections in the industry."

"Well," the moonlight-haired woman told him, her arms folded over her chest. "Since I cannot talk you out of it, as your goddess I think it should be my job to motivate you toward success." She stepped toward him and leaned into the boy, her lips approaching his ear. "If you land this job, perhaps tonight will be the night we finally..." She finished the rest in a whisper that turned the boy's face red.

He swallowed and cleared his throat as she pulled away.

"Um... okay," he gasped out. "That would be... yeah, that would be... um... good?"

"Hai," she whispered in return.

"I... uh... better get going," he said, chucking a thumb at the door.

"Hai," she said with a sigh. "It looks like I'll be leaving right after you. There's an errand I have to run. Do you need anything from the store?"

"No," he replied. "Didn't you just go shopping, though?"

"Hai," she said with a pout. "But I think we might have a pest problem. I need to take care of it."

"Oh, okay," he said. "Well... I'll see you later."

"Good bye and good luck, my Keiichi san," she said as he stepped out the front door.

Her smile turned dark a moment later as her thoughts turned back to Hasegawa's phone call. It had to be the goddess her mother warned her about.

For two months she had lived with Keiichi Morisato, playing the part of his goddess and guardian angel, and she knew she was making inroads. Hild warned her to be subtle, that he had the ability to see through deceit. It didn't matter. In two months she had become his sweet little girlfriend. In a year she'd have him at the altar. A year after that she'd tell him what she really was, and he wouldn't care. By then she would have corrupted him so completely, there'd be no going back to what he once was.

But it was all for nothing, if _that_ goddess found him. She went to the little desk where Keiichi kept the ancient Commodore 64 he insisted on keeping and found a one-gigabyte flashdrive in the top drawer.

They can't meet if Belldandy is sealed, she knew. No problem.

She grabbed her purse as she stepped out the door and started for the park.

888

Sora's directions were perfect, and Belldandy had no problem following them even in an unfamiliar place, yet she didn't make anywhere near the time she should have walking from the school to Mr. Morisato's home. She was enthralled by what she was seeing, first at the school where, to her wonder and amazement, she found that the building she had appeared in was but one of several! She wanted to explore them, to speak to the people inside and bask in their happiness, but thoughts of her mission managed to pull her away.

And then there was the park that young woman recommended she cut through. It was beautiful, not because it was large or more perfectly maintained than the parks in Heaven, but because it was full of people, children playing and having fun. She just had to stop, to sit down for just a moment and observe.

Finally, her sense of guilt managed to pull her away, and she resolved to avoid such distractions until such a time as her duty allowed her the freedom to enjoy them fully. As luck would have it, her path took her through a part of the park that was free of people. A fountain seemed to be under construction there, perhaps accounting for the lack of other park-goers.

She paused suddenly, an uneasy but somewhat familiar feeling teasing the back of her mind. Sighing, she turned. "Urd, I told Skuld to tell you not to..." She blinked in shock at the sight that met her.

The woman before her looked very much like her own sister, only a bit shorter and thinner. A purple streak in her hair ran from just above her left eye down her pony-tail almost to her feet. Her ankle-length red skirt seemed to fit oddly on her, as if she were used to something much shorter.

Belldandy swallowed, thrown by the woman's sudden appearance and the feelings reverberating from her. "Hello," she said.

Sitri smiled. "Hi," she replied. "You seem lost, little goddess. Perhaps I can help you find your way."

Definitely a demon, Belldandy decided. The feelings of hate and spite coming from her made her very soul ache just being near them. She frowned and raised her hands.

"What are you doing here?" Belldandy demanded with authority. "I demand you identify yourself and your purpose in this realm!"

Sitri smiled and took a step toward her. "Really, little goddess," she admonished throatily. "What good will knowing my name do you? Haven't you more pressing concerns at the moment?" She fingered the flash drive in her hand.

"As a Goddess First Class, I order you to leave this realm at once!" Belldandy cried, crossing her arms in front of her face as she braced herself for an attack.

Sitri held up a finger as if to say, "Wait!" She cocked her head. "Do you hear that?"

Belldandy blinked.

"I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder," Sitri whispered, her eyes shut in bliss. "One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see,' and I saw... and behold..." She turned to Belldandy and smiled sinisterly. "... a white horse..."

It happened before Belldandy was even aware anything _was_ happening. Sitri snapped her fingers and two silvery strands of light leapt from her fingers and wrapped around the goddess's hands. Belldandy cried out as she was yanked off her feet and swung into a nearby tree, the breath knocked out of her by the impact. Before she could recover, she was thrown through the air again, the silver ropes holding a death grip on her wrists.

She felt the bindings release as she hit the ground again. Gathering her wits, she climbed to her feet and threw her hands up, launching a binding spell of her own.

Sitri raised her own hand and launched a sealing spell, black, blue and purple tendrils of light slamming into Belldandy's white and gold with a force so strong there was an audible boom and wave of energy that threw back the goddess and demon's hair.

Belldandy grit her teeth and poured more energy into her spell as the dark tendrils of Sitri's magic began to make headway against hers, not forcing itself and overpowering her spell, but climbing over it like a parasitic vine.

The demoness laughed cruelly as she stepped toward the goddess. Belldandy, unable to beat back Sitri's spell, instinctively tried to step away from it.

Desperate and knowing she was losing, Belldandy redoubled her effort and poured everything she had into the spell. In response, Sitri's magic seemed to feed off the energy and climb even faster toward the Norn.

With a cry of despair, Belldandy forcefully broke off the spell before the dark tendrils could touch her, causing a blast that threw her backward into the dirt.

She was out of power. With her limiter in place, there was no way she could match this unknown demon. A seductive, drowsy feeling came over her as her emergency recharge method beckoned her. It was only a matter of seconds now and she would be sound asleep.

Her eyes fluttered as she saw Sitri's swishing skirt coming toward her. The demoness knelt next to her and held up a flash drive. When she spoke it was if Belldandy were hearing her from the end of a long tunnel.

"There, there," Sitri cooed as she lifted Belldandy's right arm. "It'll all feel better in a moment." The demoness raised the flash drive with her right hand while she held Belldandy's arm firmly in her left.

Belldandy moaned and blinked rapidly. She knew what the demon was about to do. She had to fight, even if it was futile. Drained of her power, she did the only thing her exhausted mind could think of. Raising her left hand she grabbed Sitri's right arm.

It was a futile act of desperation... but for some reason, it worked.

Sitri smiled at the act, a smile that quickly fell from her face as she felt a tingling in her arm. That tingling became a discomfort. The discomfort rapidly became pain. Looking down, she saw a thin wisp of smoke rising from her arm where Belldandy held her.

Shoving the goddess's arm away, the demoness jumped to her feet and looked down at her arm in horror. A small, red rectangle had been burned into her forearm, and was now spreading across her skin, causing a hissing sound and the smell of burning flesh.

Sitri cried out and slapped at the burn as if she were trying to slap off offending insects. As the burn continued to spread, she became more panicked, whirling around desperately as she tried to stop it. Finally, in a last desperate act, she disappeared, leaving Belldandy alone.

The goddess didn't know why the demon had disappeared, but she knew it wouldn't be for long. Struggling against her exhaustion, Belldandy rose slowly to her feet, resisting sleep's siren song trying to lure her back to the comfortable earth.

She put one foot in front of the other.

_A mirror,_ she thought. _I must find a mirror before..._

Another step. It was so hard. She felt so weak. She knew she needed to recharge, to rest, but that demon could return at any moment, and she could _not_ be here when she did!

She couldn't even raise her head, weak as she was. The only way she could tell she was moving was the change in the earth below her. First dirt, then grass, then, finally, after several minutes of trudging, it was concrete.

The goddess resisted the urge to stop just for a moment, knowing that once she stopped she'd never start moving again.

Another step. One foot in front of the other.

She felt her balance starting to go and reached out to her left, her hand striking a concrete wall and allowing her to steady herself. The goddess forced another foot forward, her eyelids getting heavier.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She felt herself fall forward, expecting any moment to hit the hard concrete sidewalk below her...

But she didn't. Instead, she felt strong arms catch her.

"I got ya!" she heard as if from far away, a man's voice filled with kindness. "I got ya! It's okay!" She felt him lower her gently to the ground. She forced her eyes open for only the briefest of moments, just enough for a quick glimpse.

She couldn't focus her eyes on him, only able to note his bushy eyebrows and his warm, brown eyes.

Then she succumbed to sleep's embrace.

888

She didn't know how long she was asleep, but it obviously wasn't enough. Her mind was insisting she wake up, but her body wasn't ready, so they compromised. She could hear and feel what was happening around her, yet couldn't summon the strength to open her eyes.

One thing she did know, she wasn't lying on concrete. Someone had placed her on something soft somewhere, a bed, she thought. She could feel gentle hands tucking her in, putting a soft blanket over her.

"Well, she doesn't _seem_ drunk to me," a feminine voice spoke. "You say you found her stumbling down the street?"

"Yeah," a man's voice, _his_ voice, replied. "Got to her just as she passed out. Your place was closer than ours so..."

"Think we should call an ambulance?" the girl asked.

"I don't know," he said. "Like you said, she seems okay, just asleep. Maybe she has some kind of sleeping disorder?"

The girl sighed. "Well... I guess she can just stay here for a bit. If she gets worse or doesn't wake up after awhile, I'll just call a doctor."

"Sounds good to..." He broke off as a phone rang. She heard a beep and then... "Hello? What's wrong?! Are you okay?! Okay, I'll be right there!" Another beep.

"Was that S..."

"Yeah," the boy said, his voice soaked with concern. "She's hurt! I gotta go! Are you..."

"Yeah, we're cool! Get going!"

Belldandy heard a door open and shut and felt the hands again, tucking her in.

"Well, Mystery Woman," the girl said softly. "You just take a load off and relax, and when you feel up..."

But Belldandy didn't hear anymore. Her body was calling an end to their little compromise. Before the girl could finish, she was asleep again.

888

"How did this happen?" Keiichi asked again as he gently dabbed at his girlfriend's arm with a wet towel.

Sitting next to him, sniffling in pain, Sitri let him work as she quietly congratulated herself. When Destiny hands you lemons, you make lemonade, and it didn't take her long after realizing she had lost track of Belldandy to come up with a contingency plan.

"There was a cooking demonstration at the market," she whimpered. "This chef was working with one of those big hibachi grills like at the steak houses. I stumbled and reached out to catch myself and..." She gestured to her arm. A patch the size of a dollar bill was an angry red where Belldandy had burned her.

Keiichi shook his head. "You gotta be careful around stuff like that," he admonished her gently.

She decided to pour it on a little thick and sniffled loudly. "The worst part is it's going to leave a scar," she sobbed quietly. "I won't be beautiful for you anymore."

"What kind of talk is that?" Keiichi asked with a reassuring smile. "Sitri, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

The demoness sniffed and summoned a blush. "Really?" she asked.

"Mm hmm," he replied in the affirmative.

"Oh, Keiichi san," she whimpered. "You have no idea how that makes me feel."

He let his eyes wander over her, wondering how he got so lucky. Sitri just seemed so perfect in every way. So much so that he was constantly afraid of doing something to ruin it. Ever since that day she had appeared in his dorm room he had asked himself, 'Why me?' She said she had come to offer him Heaven's Grace, to be his guardian angel. Was that why she seemed so _interested_ in him? Or did she really feel something? It was hard to tell even when she hinted her desire for a physical relationship.

"Come on," he said with a smile. "There's something I want to do."

She blinked at him. "What?"

He took her hands and pulled her to her feet.

_Finally!_ she thought to herself. _I've only been hinting for two months! What's a girl gotta do to get some action in this realm?_

Keiichi pulled her into the living room and smiled. "Dance with me?" he asked.

"Huh?" she asked, not sure she heard right.

"I keep saying we'll go dancing sometime," he said. "How about now?"

_Jesus Christ bananas!_ she thought. The goody-goody act was really starting to wear on her.

He reached out and hit play on his old cassette player, and she smiled.

_You're the devil in disguise!_ Elvis Presley crooned. _Oh, yes you are! Devil in disguise!_

_You fooled me with your kisses!_

_You cheated and you schemed!_

_Heaven knows how you lied to me!_

_You're not the way you seem!_

Sitri suddenly laughed without meaning to.

Keiichi gave her a puzzled look.

"Nothing!" she said quickly. "Just... your taste in music," she explained, secretly savoring the irony.

"I can put on something else..." he said quickly, but before he could finish, Sitri pulled him to her and held him close.

"No," she said. "I like this song." She started to dance, practically dragging him into the movements for a moment.

_I thought I was in Heaven! _

_But I was sure surprised!_

_Heaven help me, I didn't see,_

_The devil in your eyes!_

"By the way," she said with a smile. "You didn't tell me how your interview went."

Keiichi cleared his throat as the demoness pressed her chest against him. "They... um... They said they'd call me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said.

He shrugged and smiled. "Doesn't seem that important right now."

"Good!" she declared, embracing him.

888

Sitri moved silently through the hallway as she made her way past Keiichi's room to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Her red silk pajamas swished quietly as she strode confidently to the door and entered the bath. Locking the door behind her, she turned to the mirror.

"Mother," she called quietly.

It only took about ten seconds for Hild's face to appear in the mirror. The queen and CEO of the demon realm smiled for only a moment before seeing the utterly pissed off look on her younger daughter's face.

"Oh, now what?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"_That_ goddess is here," Sitri hissed.

"Ah," Hild said with a tone of understanding. "I take you've met one another then and found each other to be... less than pleasant?"

Sitri turned her head away in angry disgust.

"May I assume by your tone of voice," Hild went on, a note of danger flavoring her voice, "... that you have failed to seal this young goddess as I instructed?"

"You may," Sitri replied with a note of challenge, daring Hild to castigate her for her failure.

Hild took a breath and decided to take stock of the situation instead. "Have they met?"

"No."

"They... _must not... _meet," Hild told her, enunciating each word. "Do you understand me? I've gone through a great deal of trouble to make this plan work," she went on. "I have reordered time! I have turned the world upside down! And it can all be undone if they meet."

"They won't meet," Sitri assured her. "I will see to that."

"Belldandy has a way of..."

"Belldandy will not leave this realm alive!" Sitri hissed suddenly.

The fire in her daughter's voice threw the elder demoness for a moment. She arched an eyebrow and smiled. "She must have made quite the impression."

Sitri responded by holding up her arm and showing her mother the burn scar there. Hild winced in sympathy.

"My poor baby..."

"Tell me she loves him," Sitri commanded.

Hild's grin turned cold. "More than life itself."

"And tell me that being with _my_ Keiichi would make her the happiest goddess in Creation."

"I'm quite sure it would," Hild replied.

"Excellent!" Sitri hissed. "Because I intend to keep him!"

Hild arched an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked. "The plan was..."

"The plan was to corrupt his soul," Sitri broke in, cutting her mother off. "You will have your prize, Mother. But the boy, his heart, belongs to me, and through him I will spite that goddess bitch! As she scarred me, I shall scar _her_! I will make her heart burn to ash in her chest until her every moment of life is but an aching, empty chore to be endured! And I will _bask in it!_"

She stared at her mother, again daring her to deny her her wishes. Hild, however, smiled at seeing her daughter so motivated in her task.

"Have it your own way, my dear," she said. "My gift to you."

The young demoness smiled cruelly. "You always know what to get me."

"But no killing," Hild warned her. "Doublet would take one of my demons, and I'm not prepared to pay such a price."

"I cannot promise such a thing," Sitri said, throwing her nose in the air. "The situation is... complicated."

"Do not kill Belldandy," Hild ordered. "I mean it, Sitri!"

For the first time since their conversation began, Sitri backed down. "Very well, Mother. I live to serve your will."

"Don't forget it," Hild bit out. "Find that goddess and seal her! Don't take anything for granted." Hild seemed to pout for a moment. "Somehow... those two always find one another."

"Not this time," Sitri promised, opening the door.

She stepped out of the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

"This time," she whispered with a predatory grin. "... she'll find only me."

888

Her eyes opened, and the goddess inhaled the first breath of the morning, relishing in the life-sustaining act. She felt much better now, if still a little weak from her battle with the unknown demon.

Sitting up, she yawned loudly and got a good look at her surroundings for the first time. She was lying on a futon and covered by a soft, blue blanket. She blinked as she looked down at herself. Someone had changed her clothes. Her blue, flowing outfit had been replaced by a pair of grey shorts and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words, "NIT Softball" across the front. Her hair had also been pulled down from its pony-tail. She smiled. Someone had gone through a great deal of trouble to make sure she was comfortable as she rested.

As she rose from the bed, she could make out voices in the next room, the same people she had heard before.

"So she's okay?" the girl was asking.

"Yeah," the young man said. "But it really shook her up, you know? She's been cagey ever since."

Belldandy thought about opening the door and joining them, but at the same time the goddess didn't want to intrude on a private conversation. She stood in the middle of the room, not sure how to proceed.

"Ah," the girl replied. "So how did the job thing go?"

"It didn't," he replied. "I ran into our mystery guest on the way. I missed the interview."

"Ouch... That's tough. What did _she_ say?"

The man snorted. "She doesn't think I need a job to begin with," he said.

"Well... that's true. She's from a rich family right?"

"All of a sudden you're taking her side?" he asked. "You've hated her since the day you met."

"True," the woman replied. "But even I can see her up-side." There was an awkward pause that the goddess could instinctively tell made them both uncomfortable. Finally, the girl continued. "Look, I don't like her. You know that. I think she's manipulative and..."

"Come on, Megumi..."

"No, seriously!" the woman continued. "You can't pin it on her, but I can just tell. She's got a mean streak in her. Girls can tell!"

"I'm not having this conversation again," the boy said.

"Fine," the girl relented. "Let me ask you this, though. Did you tell her about your little white knight routine yesterday?"

There was another pause.

"You see?" the girl went on. "You didn't tell her because you didn't want to deal with the fall-out of that girl's jealous streak."

"Maybe I just didn't want to tell her I missed my interview," the boy said. "Or maybe with her being hurt it just slipped my mind."

"Maybe," the girl relented.

"Look, I gotta go," the boy said. "I'll drop by later."

"Okay. Later on."

There was the sound of a door opening and closing followed the sound of approaching footsteps. Without realizing she had been eavesdropping, Belldandy was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by the door opening.

A young woman with short hair blinked in surprise at seeing her up and around.

"Oh! You're awake!" the girl said dumbly. She smiled broadly. "How do you feel?"

Belldandy smiled. "Much better, thank you! I appreciate all you've done for me!"

"I hope you're not upset about changing your clothes," the girl said. "But the outfit you had on was dirty and I didn't know how long you'd be asleep. I know a guy in town who owns a dry cleaning business. He owes me a favor, so we can get it cleaned up for you today."

"That would be wonderful, thank you," Belldandy replied. She bowed. "I'm sorry, I'm forgetting my manners. My name is Belldandy."

"I'm Megumi, pleased to meet you," Megumi replied with a bow of her own. "You should still probably take it easy. I don't know exactly what happened to you, but it knocked you out cold for twenty-four hours." She turned for the door. "Are you hungry? You want some soup?"

"That would be wonderful! But please, allow me to help! I owe you a great debt for helping me."

Megumi smiled. "Shucks, you don't owe me anything. Kei chan's the one that rode in on his white horse and rescued you."

Belldandy blinked. "I don't recall a horse..."

"Wow, you really are foreign, aren't you?" Megumi asked with a smile. "New in town?"

"Hai," Belldandy replied honestly. "I came to see someone, but was attacked in that park."

"Oh, yeah?" Megumi asked, surprised to hear that. That park was usually safe no matter what time of day or night you went there. "Someone mugged you?"

"No," Belldandy said. "It was something more... personal, I suppose you could say..."

Megumi sensed that they were drifting into something personal and uncomfortable for the foreign girl, and she could almost put the pieces together herself. It was an old story. She probably came to the country to meet this person, almost certainly a guy, who was less than the prince charming he appeared to be on the internet. Things got a little rough and now...

"You got a place to stay?" Megumi asked sympathetically.

"No," Belldandy said, smiling. "But that's all right. My needs are very small."

"Well, yeah, maybe," Megumi said. "But tell you what, you can hang out here until you get on your feet, if you want."

"That's very generous of you!" Belldandy said, clapping her hands together in delight.

Megumi smiled. "It's no problem. I got the extra room and..."

Before she could finish a deep rumbling voice reverberated through the apartment.

"GEEEEEEET OOOOOUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTT!!!!"

Belldandy blinked. Megumi grit her teeth and rather than cower at the otherworldly voice, she looked up at the ceiling.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed. "I HATE YOU! SHUT UP!"

Silence.

As if nothing at all happened, Megumi smiled again. "Like I was saying, I got the extra room and there's no use trying to rent it out with... well... the ghost and all..."

"Ghost?" Belldandy asked, blinking.

"Yeah," Megumi said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head. "Came here from Hokkaido and found this great apartment for an awesome price. Stupid me didn't think to ask why until after the lease was signed. Now..." She sighed. "I'm stuck with him. He's not too bad," she went on. "We kind of have an unspoken agreement. He doesn't haunt me in the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep.... and I don't snap and burn this building to the ground and him with it."

"I see," Belldandy said with a smile.

"You still want the room?" Megumi asked nervously, knowing how utterly absurd and/or horrifying this must seem.

"Hai!" Belldandy cried. "Very much!"

"Okay, cool," Megumi said with a grin. "So... how about that soup?"

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Those Whom Demon Has Joined Together

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma. "The Man Comes Around" belongs to Johnny Cash.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 3**

**Those Whom Demon Has Joined Together Let Not Goddess Put Asunder**

Megumi Morisato of Hokkaido watched the foreign girl out of the corner of her eye as she stirred the simple soup she was making. The girl seemed happy, almost abnormally happy given her situation. When her brother brought Belldandy to her home, they found no ID, no wallet, no money. She was, as far as Megumi could tell, a refugee in every way that counted, yet she moved about the kitchen, setting the table, with a gentle, unforced smile, as if she knew everything was happening as it should.

There was something about her, something... different.

_There's a reason Keiichi brought her here,_ she thought. _Not a reason that he knew... just... she's here for a REASON._

"So, where are you from?" Megumi asked casually.

Belldandy opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly paused. With a demon on the loose and her in a weakened state, it might not be the best idea to divulge too much information about what she was. It broke her heart to think she might have to deceive someone, but if word got back to that demon...

"Far away," she answered truthfully and deceptively at he same time.

"Europe?" Megumi pressed.

"A little further," Belldandy replied with a cringe. She wasn't good at deceit and hated the very idea of it, but it wasn't just her safety at stake.

Megumi nodded knowingly. _An American... no... too polite. Definitely Canadian..._

She wanted to press for more information, but it was obvious that the girl didn't want to talk about herself, either out of embarrassment of her situation or distrust of Megumi. Either way, the Japanese girl wasn't one to press.

Picking up two bowls of soup, Megumi turned and gently placed the steaming bowls on the table before them.

Belldandy sipped delicately from her spoon and smiled. "It's wonderful! What is it?"

"It's miso soup," Megumi answered with a shrug. "It's pretty much the limit of my cooking skills. So I hope you like take out."

The goddess smiled. "If you like, I know some recipes. I could cook."

"You do?"

"Hai!"

The girl felt like she had won the lottery. It always irked her that the local merchants traded her groceries in exchange for her mechanical expertise when she didn't know how to cook, and she was growing very weary of take out and ramen.

"Knock yourself out!" Megumi replied. She checked her watch and quickly wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Jeez! I gotta go! I got softball practice!"

She suddenly looked up at Belldandy and realized that she was about to leave a strange, foreign girl she knew nothing about alone in her apartment.

_Well, it's your own fault,_ her mind chastised her. _You offered her a place to stay. Did you plan on just following her around until she got tired of it and left?_

Megumi bit her lip. At some point, she had decided to trust this girl without even realizing it... and the weird thing was, she didn't feel as much trepidation at that thought as she felt she should.

She smiled and reached into her pocket, taking a key off her Go Go Happy Panda key ring. "Here," she said, offering the key to Belldandy. "It's my spare. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I'll take your clothes to that cleaner I told you about, but you should probably rest and take it easy, okay?"

"Hai," Belldandy replied.

Megumi stood up and grabbed her gym bag as she headed to the door.

"Megumi san?"

The girl turned and found Belldandy standing there, that same disarming smile on her face. She reached out and took the mortal girl's hands. "Thank you," she said. "You opened your heart to a stranger in need when you did not have to."

"Hey, it's not a problem..."

Belldandy closed her eyes. "May fortune smile upon you."

Megumi blinked. For a moment, she thought there had been a flash of light... but it must have been a reflection from the front window.

The foreign girl was smiling at her. She blinked the momentary flash from her eyes and smiled back.

"You just take it easy, okay?"

"Hai. Oh, Megumi san?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering," Belldandy began nervously, looking at her feet. "Will I have a chance to meet and thank your brother... for helping me?"

Megumi smiled and wondered if the foreigner was coming down with a case of Damsel-in-Distress syndrome. She almost hoped so. Any girl was better than Sitri...

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "He'll probably drop by tonight to see how you're doing."

Belldandy's grin touched her ears. "Wonderful!"

As Megumi left, Belldandy offered another silent blessing to both the girl and her brother. Their goodness of heart literally saved her life, and she promised she would never forget it.

Thinking on that brought to mind a very disturbing fact. She shouldn't be here to begin with, and she still had no idea how she survived her encounter with the strange demon.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she went over the final moments of the fight in her mind. She was down, weakened, beaten and yet...

When she touched the demoness, that touch burned her.

She looked down at her hand and wondered why. The demon hadn't reacted when she touched her other arm, so what was it about her left...

The ring twinkled knowingly at her. Biting her lip, Belldandy removed the ring and studied it carefully. Perhaps it possessed magical qualities.

Deciding to check, she placed the ring on the table and held her hand about four inches over it, allowing her powers to heighten her senses, scanning the piece of jewelry for its make and qualities. What she found both disappointed and intrigued her.

She was disappointed because despite her momentary suspicion, there were absolutely no magical properties about the ring. No spells, charms or curses. It was what it was and no more.

The goddess was intrigued, however, by one almost mundane fact about the ring. It was made on Earth. This gave Belldandy pause. Where would Skuld come by a ring from Earth? Her sister had never been to this realm. And Belldandy's experiences on Earth consisted entirely of granting wishes, actions that took only a few moments and did not allow for shopping trips.

So how did it get to Heaven for Skuld to give it to her?

She picked up the ring and examined it with her blue eyes, trying to will it to explain itself.

The ring, however, only twinkled at her and kept its secrets to itself.

888

Hasegawa grumbled as she tried to balance her books in her arms while locking her apartment. Finally getting it right, she turned just as her textbooks began to slide out of her hands...

Only to be caught by a familiar woman who had come up behind her.

After the initial jump in surprise, Hasegawa smiled. She liked Sitri senpai. She was always nice to her and never treated her like a flat-chested kid. The silver-tressed woman smiled as she handed the books back to her.

"Hey, Senpai," Hasegawa said. "Thanks."

"No problem, Sora chan," Sitri replied. "Physics today, huh?"

"Yeah," the student said with a sheepish grin. "It's still kicking my butt."

"You should ask Keiichi san to tutor you," Sitri suggested. "He got an A in that class."

"I might do that," Sora said.

"Sora chan, did that girl ever show up again?" Sitri suddenly asked.

"You mean the foreigner?" Sora followed this up with an embarrassed blush a moment later. "Sorry," she said. She didn't mean for it to sound like that.

"It's all right, Sora chan," Sitri said with a smile. "So... the girl?"

Hasegawa shook her head. "Sorry, no. Didn't she show up at your place?"

"Didn't who show up?" Sitri asked.

Hasegawa blinked. "Um..." Sitri stared into her eyes, her violet orbs seeming to reach into Hasegawa's soul and grab hold of it. The girl felt a warmth in her eyes that spread through her head, fogging her thoughts. "There was a... a..."

"A what, Sora chan?" Sitri asked pleasantly.

Hasegawa blinked. "I'm sorry," she said with a smile. "I must have been thinking of something else."

Sitri smiled. "That's all right. You have a good day at school, Sora chan. I'll ask Keiichi about tutoring you."

"Thanks, Senpai!"

The demoness turned and smiled as she walked away from the apartment. Now that she was certain Hasegawa wouldn't go asking Keiichi about their mysterious foreign visitor, she could start the search in earnest. Somewhere in Nekomi was a goddess she had to find, humiliate and destroy.

888

Belldandy wiped her hands on a dish towel after putting the last dish away. The very least she could do was Megumi san's dishes. Turning, she wondered what she should do next. She felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her and considered sleeping for a bit more, but that was unacceptable. She couldn't just take advantage of Megumi san's hospitality like that and sleep while there were chores that needed to be done.

A part of her knew what she was doing. She didn't want to think about the task ahead of her, so she was busying herself with other things. At some point, she knew, she would have to face the unknown demon again. It could not be coincidence that Hell's servant found her so quickly after arriving. And she would have to face Keiichi Morisato as well. That almost gave her more trepidation than facing the demon. Facing an enemy of Heaven was easy, facing up to her own failure frightened her.

"GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!" a deep voice howled at her from everywhere and nowhere as the house shook.

She looked up and blinked. "Ghost san?" she asked. "Would you like to come out and talk?"

The ghost didn't reply.

"I might be able to help you," Belldandy offered with a smile.

"LEAVE THIS PLACE OR I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!"

"That's not very nice," Belldandy told him with a disappointed finger wave.

"BE GONE FROM THIS PLACE!" the ghost demanded again.

Belldandy's nose scrunched in irritation. If this truly was a wandering spirit trapped in this place by an inability to move onto the next life, then she was sympathetic, but this hostile behavior was simply unacceptable.

"As a goddess first class, unlimited license, I command thee to show thyself!" she ordered with steel in her voice.

The ghost seemed to hesitate at this new development. Finally, with a puff of acrid smoke, a tall, white-haired being appeared in the kitchen before her. She blinked at the sight and the realization that she wasn't looking at a ghost at all.

"You're an Earth Spirit," she declared.

888

Sitri growled as she leapt from telephone pole to telephone pole, searching the streets as she went. She wasn't foolish enough to believe the goddess had given up and gone back to Heaven. It wasn't their way. They had a tenacity born from the firm belief that they were always right, and that tenacity would lead to Belldandy's downfall.

_If_ Sitri could find her.

She laughed as the truth of her situation and the simple solution came to her. She didn't _have_ to find Belldandy because she knew where Belldandy was going.

The demoness paused on a light post just long enough to change course and return to the house.

888

"I've reset the line," Belldandy told him. "So you can come and go as you please."

The Earth Spirit sighed in relief and smiled. "Thank you, Lady Belldandy," he told her with genuine feeling. "If there is anything I can do to repay you..."

"If you would," she began quietly. "Please look after Megumi san."

"I shall," he promised.

"And one other thing," she said.

The deity waited for her to continue.

"I'm... being hunted," she said. "By a demon of great power." She collected her thoughts and continued. "It would be best if she not find me. Can you use your powers to mask mine?"

The Earth Spirit bowed low. "It shall be done, Lady Belldandy!"

Belldandy bowed back. "Thank you very much!"

"If I may, Lady Belldandy," The Earth Spirit began, "Should you not return to Heaven? If this demon is actively seeking you..."

The goddess closed her eyes. "I have a mission here," she said. "And I will not abandon it, no matter the threat. I ask for your support in this."

"Then I am yours!"

888

Aurora sighed and rubbed her eyes. She didn't have to be at work for another eighteen hours, and she had a feeling she would be spending the overwhelming majority of them here in her sister's office, going over Oracle's notes.

Despite her name, Oracle wasn't a goddess of the future. Control over Time was left to the Norns. Oracle was more of a researcher, a "Time-ologist," as stupid as the name sounded. She researched the future's script and made sure there were no anomalies or conflicts. While Aurora had chosen not to follow her sisters into the narration business, she had no illusions that it was easy work.

What she was finding in her sister's work, however, was frightening. Belldandy's time with the mortal was all there, hastily outlined by her sister in screenplay format from their first meeting to the battle with the Lord of Terror to Velsper's attempt to stop the universe all the way to Keiichi's death and triggering of a singularity that seems to cause a massive cascade failure in Yggdrasil.

This part Oracle had circled with a note written in the margin in red ink that said, "The First End."

Which, Aurora found out, was true. Turning the page, she saw that somehow, after the world ended, things had reset to the moment Keiichi Morisato had made his wish. It gave her a headache. But once that portion of the script ended with yet another reset, things started to diverge again.

The script clearly called for Keiichi Morisato to make his wish again, yet, if what Oracle told her was true, that still hadn't happened.

And perhaps that was a _very_ good thing.

Aurora was no "Time-ologist" (Almighty, she hated that term...), but it seemed to her that Keiichi Morisato and Belldandy were caught in some kind of endless reset loop. Destiny mandated that they be together, yet being together brings about Ragnarok.

The Dawn sighed and leaned back in her chair. Did her sister _really_ expect her to get Morisato and Belldandy together if it meant killing trillions of beings?

She flipped back to the start of their script, the day Morisato first made his wish to Belldandy.

_I would like a goddess like you to always be by my side._

Aurora tapped at the line with her pencil. Oracle had underlined the statement three times and circled it twice. In the margin her sister had stenciled a quick note followed by several exclamation marks.

_This is the problem!!!!!!!!_

The Dawn let out a breath.

"Aurora?"

Turning, she saw Oracle standing in the doorway. "What are you doing?"

"Researching before I go out to look for them," Aurora told her seriously. "Your notes are very detailed, interesting stuff."

Oracle arched an eyebrow. "But?"

"But you're out of your mind if you think I'm going to help you do this," Aurora spat. "You wrote these notes! You _know_ what will happen if they are thrown together again!"

"It is our job to right Destiny."

"You call it 'righting Destiny!'" Aurora bit back. "I call it 'Ragnarok!' I call it the eradication of every living thing in Creation!"

"You don't understand..."

"Understand what?!" Aurora cried. She held up the notes, Oracle's own scribblings damning the older goddess. "Give the Norns the credit they deserve! They saw what would happen and despite the pain it would cause Belldandy, they _stopped_ it from happening! Why would you want me to undo that!?"

"Because it is Destiny's will that they be together!" Oracle snapped back. "But it is _not_ Destiny's will that Creation be destroyed! That's what script-work is all about, Aurora! Deconfliction! Correlation need not be causation! Not in this case!" She snatched the notes from her little sister's hand, the red words, "The First End," prominent at the top.

"This!" Oracle went on, holding the pages aloft. "This is not the way it should have ended! It could have ended better! They _deserved_ better!" Her voice softened. "And with a little work, we can give them better."

Aurora let out a breath and rubbed her temples. "How?"

"The wish is the key," Oracle said. "I'm certain of it. Confliction and deconfliction are very sensitive to Chaos. Creation, the future, can all turn on a single poorly-phrased statement."

"So what you're saying is I need to find them before that wish is granted," Aurora said. "Then what?"

Oracle bit her lip. "I don't know."

888

"Belldandy... this... this is awesome!" Megumi gasped out as she took in the sight that met her upon entering the kitchen.

The college student hadn't even been aware that the contents of her refrigerator could be made into such a feast, yet it appeared that the foreign girl had somehow managed it.

Belldandy clapped her hands together, happy at Megumi's reaction. "I'm so glad!" she said. "Please!" she begged, gesturing to the empty seat. "Dig in! I think I'm going to go take a bath."

Megumi sat down as the girl walked down the hall. Before she could lift her chopsticks to her mouth, there was a knock on the door.

"Come on in!" she called.

The door opened, and her brother entered. "Hey," he said. Seeing the spread laid out before him, he blinked. "Wow, what's the occasion?"

"Your new girlfriend can cook!" Megumi replied in glee. Bringing a rice ball to her mouth, she chewed in ecstacy. "Oh... Oh my god... She's a keeper..."

"You mean she's awake?!" Keiichi asked, sitting down across from her.

"Oh," Megumi said sheepishly. "Yeah, I meant to call, but I got caught up in other things. Her name's Belldandy. I invited her to stay until she gets on her feet."

"Stay?"

"Yeah," Megumi went on. "She's kind of reserved, doesn't talk about herself a lot, but I get the feeling that she came here looking for something and didn't find it, and now she's kind of stuck here."

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah, and it looks like you didn't just help a sick girl home. She said she was attacked in the park."

"Jeez," Keiichi whispered. "Did she talk to the police yet?"

"I don't think so, and I don't think we should push her. She's probably scared enough as it is being alone in a new country."

"Okay," Keiichi said, plucking a rice ball from the platter at the table's center.

Megumi gave him a side-long glance. "She's really looking forward to meeting you," she said slyly.

"Why?" Keiichi asked mid-chew.

"Because you saved her life," Megumi said with a grin. "I think you made an impression. She keeps talking about wanting to thank you."

"I didn't do anything," he said. "God, these are good," he went on, plucking another rice ball from the plate.

"Give yourself some credit, Kei chan," Megumi said with a knowing smile. "You rescued the damsel in distress from the evil dragon. In the story books, that usually means..."

"What are you doing?" he asked her suddenly.

"What? Nothing," Megumi said. "I'm just saying that she seems like a really nice girl... and she can cook... and..."

Keiichi glared at her. Megumi found herself glaring back.

"You can do _so much_ better!" she finally hissed.

"What the hell do you have against her?!" Keiichi snapped.

The younger Morisato growled to herself, knowing that there was no good answer. All she had was feelings and instinct, and while they had served her well in the past, it wasn't exactly rock-hard evidence.

"She's wrong for you," Megumi told him. "I can feel it. That... woman... is _wrong_ for you!"

"Wrong how?!" he demanded. "Dammit, Megumi, every time we talk, you run her down, and she's been nothing but nice to you!"

"I don't expect you to understand," she said, her voice remaining even as his rose. "It's just a feeling. But at the same time I have _never_ been as sure about something as I am this. That woman is up to something, and she's using you to do it. No offense, Kei chan, but looks _and_ money? How did you two meet again? What did you say? You were modeling for her art class or something?"

Keiichi stood up. "You don't have to like her," he said. "But I do expect you to be civil and accept her." He sighed. "Look, I just dropped by to see how things were going and pick up that part you wanted me to look at."

"It's in my room," she said, facing away from him. "I appreciate the help... Really, Kei chan, I mean..."

"Yeah," he said irritably, leaving the kitchen and starting down the hall.

888

As he walked down the hall toward his sister's bedroom, he tried to put the anger from their last conversation out of his mind. Girls were simply weird. That had to be it. That had to be why Megumi hated Sitri and Sitri, though polite, didn't care for Megumi either.

Which sucked no matter how he sliced it.

He turned the corner, his mind cluttered with questions about how he was going to get the two most important women in his life to at least be civil to one another. So preoccupied with this was he, in fact, that he didn't notice the towel-clad young woman until he bumped into her.

The boy took a step back and blinked, his face turning a deep crimson as he got a good look at what he had just bumped into.

Belldandy, a violet towel wrapped around her body and her hair pinned up, blinked as well before realization struck her and she smiled happily. "You must be Kei chan!" she surmised.

So awestruck by the sight of her, he didn't answer right away. After a moment of staring, he finally caught himself and coughed. "Um... Yeah, that's me," he said. He cleared his throat again nervously. "I... uh... I guess you're Belldandy, huh?"

"Hai!"

The goddess, finally able to get a good look at her savior, studied the young man intently, smiling as she reaffirmed her belief that he had kind eyes and a gentle soul. Though, for some reason, he appeared flushed and cleared his throat often. Perhaps he was ill.

She bowed to him, and he had to physically turn his gaze to keep from trying to look down the towel at her.

"I owe you a great debt," she said. "Thank you so much!"

"It... It was no problem," he stuttered out. As she rose again, he looked at her eyes and found himself trapped there, unable to avert his gaze.

Belldandy stood there patiently, perfectly content to stare right back into his eyes. The brown orbs were comforting, almost like she were sitting by a warm fire back home under her favorite blanket.

They stared at one another for another minute before Keiichi finally managed to break away from her eyes. "I'm sorry!" he said suddenly. "I... um... didn't mean to stare, it's just..."

"Hai?"

"Well..." He smiled and shook his head. "Forget it."

"Forget it?"

"I was just thinking something, but... I mean... Are you sure you're new here?"

Belldandy blinked at him.

"I... I just get the feeling that we've met before..."

The boy kicked himself. It was the absolute most tackiest, overused come-on in history, and the worst part was, he wasn't even coming onto her. He honestly felt, as he looked into this woman's eyes, that he had seen them somewhere before.

Of course, if Sitri had heard him say that...

For a goddess, a being ostensibly of goodness and purity, his girlfriend had something of a temper on her.

Rather than laugh, which was what he fully expected her to do, Belldandy looked harder into his eyes, as if searching for something.

The boy blinked at the intensity of her stare. It felt like she was looking _into_ him.

At first, Belldandy doubted his assertion. After all, unless she had granted him a wish in the past, there was no reason for her to have even laid eyes on him before he rescued her, however...

There was something there. A wispy tendril of, if not recognition, then definitely familiarity. She tried to reach out to it, to grasp it with her mind...

He cleared his throat nervously, and the moment was over.

"I... um... gotta get going," he said almost reluctantly. "I... er... just came to get a part from Megumi's room."

Belldandy's face fell, her disappointment made plain by the droop in her eyes. "You're not staying for dinner?"

"I... I can't," he said truthfully, regret flavoring his words. "I have to get back to..." For a brief moment, pinned to the spot by the woman's eyes, his girlfriend's name fled him. "My... um... My girlfriend," he finally finished.

"Oh," Belldandy said with a smile. She squashed a momentary feeling of disappointment. Of course he would have a lover. A man like that, a warm, gentle person with such kind eyes would have any number of young women desiring to spend their lives with him.

"I see," she said with a smile. "She must be a wonderful person," she complimented.

"Yeah," he said.

"Gomen," she said sadly. "I had hoped to thank you for helping me. Megumi san said you would be coming over, so I made a special dinner."

He suddenly felt like a jerk. She had gone through a lot of trouble...

His earlier problem occurred to him again, and a possible solution presented itself.

"Um... did you make enough for four?"

888

Belldandy hummed happily as she quickly chopped an onion at the kitchen counter. While technically it was true she had made enough for four people, she didn't _feel_ what she had made was adequate, so as Kei sama returned to his home to retrieve his girlfriend, she worked on adding to the dinner she prepared and Megumi had already sampled.

She added the onions to the frying pan and stirred, her smile unmovable even as her eyes watered from the onions. When Kei sama had explained what he wanted to do, to try to bring his sister and girlfriend closer together, she was ecstatic. To bring peace to his home and family was the perfect way to thank him for his help.

_It's such a simple wish to grant,_ she thought.

The goddess blinked, wondering why her mind had phrased it like that. Before she could think on it further, the front door opened and Megumi stepped in holding a garment covered in clear plastic.

"Ah! Megumi san! Where did you go?" Belldandy asked. When she had come to the kitchen after Kei sama left, her new roommate was gone without a note or goodbye.

"I wanted to grab your dress before the cleaners closed," Megumi told her, holding up the plastic-wrapped dress. True to her word, it was her sky-blue outfit, now clean and pressed.

"Thank you very much!" Belldandy cried.

Megumi noticed the onions sizzling in the pan and arched an eyebrow. "More cooking?"

Belldandy smiled and turned back to the pan. "Your brother and his girlfriend are coming over for dinner."

The college student took a deep breath. "Oh yeah?" she asked in resignation.

"Hai," Belldandy replied with a gentle smile. "Kei sama is concerned. He wants very much for you and his girlfriend to be close."

"Great," Megumi muttered as she walked into the back to hang up Belldandy's dress.

The goddess resumed humming as she stirred the onions. She wondered what Kei sama's girlfriend was like. The boy seemed like the kind of gentleman who would attract only the kindest, gentlest, most lovely of young women.

She was probably tall, with long, silky hair and perfect skin...

The goddess bit her lip.

_Perhaps... perhaps she could have oily skin?_ she seemed to ask herself. _And... it's certainly possible that she's not... _too_ tall... And I'm willing to bet she has split ends!_

Yes, that was certainly possible!

Though she felt guilty about it, she had to admit her spirits were buoyed by the possibility that Kei sama's girlfriend was not perfect...

Though, she couldn't really explain why...

888

He heard the sink running when he walked through the door then the sound of her voice as his goddess sang.

"_Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers,"_ she sang softly as she scrubbed a dirty dish in the sink. _"One hundred million angels singing... Multitudes are marching to a big kettle drum..."_

Keiichi leaned against the doorframe, watching her as she washed the dishes, admiring her beauty in pursuit of such a simple, mundane act.

"_Voices calling and voices crying,"_ she sang softly. _"Some are born and some are dying..."_

The boy coughed quietly, trying not to disturb her, but she went quiet and turned her head to him, smiling at him.

"Welcome home, Keiichi san," she said, turning off the water and drying her hands. Walking up to him, she placed her hands on his chest and leaned in for a kiss. "I'll start dinner. Why don't you have a nice, hot bath?"

"Actually," Keiichi said with a tone of theatricality, "We're going to Megumi's for dinner."

Sitri took a step back and offered him a skeptical look. "Megumi's?" she asked. "Keiichi san... no offense to Megumi san... but she burns water."

"Not to fear!" Keiichi said with a bright smile. "Her new roommate cooks like a first class chef!"

The demoness didn't appear convinced. "But... I was planning on making something special tonight," she argued weakly.

Keiichi sighed in resignation. "Okay, Sitri, look," he said. "I want to have dinner there tonight because... well... I want you and Megumi to talk."

"Megumi and I?" she replied with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said, taking a breath. He turned and walked into the living room, sitting down on the dark red love seat Sitri had insisted on buying. It gave them a place to "be together," she had said.

He looked up at her.

"You're the two most important women in my life," he told her quietly. "And you can't be in the same room together, and I hate that. I figured if I got the two of you together over dinner, you could air things out and maybe..."

Sitri growled, but made it a point to do so at such a low volume that there was no way Keiichi could hear her. Of all the mortals the demoness had encountered thus far, Megumi Morisato was the worst. Sayoko she had taken care of early. The moment the woman had challenged her for the asinine title of "Campus Queen," the duchess of the damned had proceeded to covertly ruin her life, using a little urchin of a daemon named Senbei to systematically dismantle the young woman's looks, social standing and fortune.

When Aoshima approached her, Sitri knew his goal right away and "naively" led him on just enough to get into a love hotel with him...

At which point she started screaming like a woman being murdered. When security kicked the door in, they found a half-dressed Sitri with tears running down her face, crying about how the young man had tried to force himself on her. He was now registered as a sex offender and required to inform everyone in his neighborhood that he was indicted for attempted rape.

All of this occurred out of Keiichi's sight, of course, but Megumi was going to be difficult. She seemed to notice, the moment she arrived, that Sitri was not what she seemed and wasted no time telling Keiichi how he would be better off without her. Keiichi didn't seem to believe her, and unfortunately, Sitri saw no good way to get rid of her short of killing her, and she wasn't quite ready to take that step... just yet, anyway.

Still, if it made Keiichi happy with her, and if she was willing to make the first move and prove she wanted to make him happy...

Sitri smiled and approached him, throwing a leg over his and straddling the boy. Keiichi blinked up at her as she picked up a pack of cigarettes from the end table nearby.

She gently placed one of his cancer sticks in his mouth and caressed his cheek.

"Do I make you happy, Keiichi san?" she whispered.

He swallowed. "Y...Yeah," he mumbled, the cigarette swaying in his mouth as he spoke.

"Then I will continue to make you happy," she went on, snapping her fingers and summoning a small, orange flame to her fingers. She moved it to the end of the cigarette, lighting it for him. "That is my role as your goddess," she went on. "To give you _everything_ you've ever wanted. To protect you from harm." She smiled as he took a long drag from the cigarette. "To make sure you enjoy life to the fullest..." Reaching up, she gently plucked the cigarette from his lips and put it to hers, taking a long drag.

"I am yours," she whispered. Leaning down, she locked her lips over his and breathed the smoke into him. Parting, she found the boy looking almost hypnotized by her words and actions. "And if you want to eat at Megumi's, then we shall eat at Megumi's."

888

Belldandy laid out the last plate and admired her handiwork. Hopefully, with a relaxing dinner, Megumi san and Kei sama's girlfriend could break the ice and talk about their issues. She smiled, happy that she could do something to bring them together, to hopefully bring some measure of harmony to their relationship.

All that was left was for her to change into something more appropriate and everything would be set. She rushed back to her room and looked through the clothes Megumi had loaned her. It was hard to find something to suit the Norn's taste. Megumi's fashion sense centered around jeans and t-shirts.

She heard the woman's voice call out from the living room as she searched the closet.

"Belldandy?"

"Hai!?" she called back, her eyes not leaving the garments as she moved from one hanger to another.

"Kei chan and Sitri are here!"

"Okay, I'll be ri...." She broke off as Megumi's words caught up to her brain.

_Sitri?_ she thought. _No... Surely it's some coincidence._

Although it was not a common name, Belldandy had heard it before, all gods and goddesses had. Sitri was something of an urban legend in Heaven, supposedly a demon of incredible power. Some even said she was, like the Norn's sister, a daughter of Hild, though no one could confirm it. But she did find it odd that a mortal would name their daughter for such a gruesome woman... real or imagined.

She heard the front door open and close. "Hey, Megumi," she heard Kei sama greet.

"Hey, Kei chan," she replied. Then a moment later with just the slightest bit of frost in her tone. "Sitri."

"Megumi, it's so nice to see you!"

Belldandy froze, her blood going cold.

_No... No, surely not..._

That voice... _That voice!_

Then she felt it, that same feeling of dread that preceded the demoness's appearance last time.

She was here.

Belldandy pressed herself against the wall near the door and carefully edged her head into the hall. She saw Kei sama standing there with Megumi. Then the woman in the red dress appeared, and she just managed to pull her head back as Sitri turned hers toward the goddess.

The Norn started to hyperventilate. She felt her skin growing colder. How? How could that demoness be here?! And as one of Kei sama's loved ones?! It didn't make sense.

"So, Keiichi tells me this new roommate of yours can cook," Sitri said with just a hint of disapproval, as if the assertion somehow undercut her own cooking skills.

_Keiichi?!_ her mind screamed. _Keiichi Morisato sama!?_ Belldandy shut her eyes and silently admonished herself. Destiny had placed her within arm's length of the mortal she had been sent to meet, and she had _totally missed it!_

"She's great," Megumi said confidently. "Definitely the best I've ever tasted."

"Well... I can't wait to meet her," Sitri replied.

"She's in her room," Megumi said. "I'll go get her."

"I'll go," Sitri offered sweetly. "I still want to meet her."

_Oh no!_ Belldandy thought. _A mirror! I need to find a mirror!_

She cast her eyes about the room, searching for an escape, but the closest mirror was in the bathroom down the hall. The goddess heard the approaching footsteps, and her eyes went to the window.

888

Sitri left the siblings in the living room and approached the new girl's room. This mortal girl had apparently impressed her Keiichi, and she wanted to size her up in private. If she was no threat to her, all would be well. If she had a chance of undermining her in Keiichi's eyes, she would simply have to... leave.

She stopped at the door and knocked, but there was no answer.

"Hello?" she called, opening the door a crack and peering inside.

The room was empty. Sitri took a few steps inside and looked about. The window on the far side of the room was open, the curtains blowing gently in the breeze from outside.

Her head turned to the right and found a familiar blue dress wrapped in cellophane hanging in the closet. For a moment, her heart stopped in her chest, and she reached out and touched the garment.

Keiichi poked his head around the corner.

"Hey," he said. "Did you find Belldandy?"

Sitri smiled a cat-like grin. "Hai," she whispered, fingering the dress. "I did..."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Belldandy's Unlikely Escape

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma. "The Man Comes Around" was written by Johnny Cash.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 4**

**Belldandy's Unlikely Escape**

Belldandy ran.

Hopping from light pole to light pole, tears in her eyes, the goddess fled from Megumi's apartment as fast as she could, silently berating herself the entire time for cowardice.

_You left them there!_ her mind screamed accusingly at her. _You left them with that demon! How could you?!_

Before she could succumb to the angry voice in her head, the more rational side of her came to her defense.

_And what was the option?_ it asked. _Stay? Fight the Duchess of Malebolge right there? Turn the apartment into a battleground? Was there any other option where that _wouldn't_ have happened? Was there any option that _didn't_ end with Sitri_ _using those two mortals to force me to surrender?_

She hated herself for leaving, but at the same time knew that it was the only thing that could be done. But now she needed help. She needed a phone.

Hearing music nearby, she looked down and found a public eatery near the docks. Thinking there might be a phone she could use, she hopped down onto the sidewalk and rushed to the door.

A young woman in a white, button-down shirt bowed as she entered and offered her a menu. "Welcome to The Wharf," she said with a bright smile. "How many?"

"I need a phone," Belldandy said quickly as she bowed.

"There's one in the back," the girl said. "I'll show you."

888

"I wonder where she went," Megumi said, genuinely puzzled by her new roommate's bizarre escape.

Keiichi scratched the back of his head as they re-entered the kitchen. "Maybe... Maybe she wanted to give us some privacy?" he ventured.

"Maybe..." Megumi relented. "But... there's a door, you know. All she had to say was, 'hey, I'm going to see a movie...'"

The boy sighed. What a weird way to start the evening. He turned to Sitri and found his girlfriend lost in thought.

"Sitri? You okay?"

She turned and smiled brightly. "Hai!" she replied. "It just seems so odd that she would run out like that."

"Yeah," Megumi agreed, regretting even having to say it. She liked Belldandy, but the girl was definitely weird.

"Well, we shouldn't let the dinner she made go to waste," Keiichi said, pulling a chair out for Sitri.

The demon smiled, but didn't sit down. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to powder my nose first." She turned and started down the hall toward the bathroom, leaving a vaguely perplexed Keiichi and Megumi alone.

Entering the bathroom, she shut the door and checked herself over in the mirror before almost casually reaching out to her right and closing her fingers around someone's throat.

The Earth Spirit, watching the demon since Belldandy's narrow escape, was caught unawares as the Duchess channeled power into her hand to bring him into phase with the mortal plane. His hands clutched at hers as he tried to pry the demon off of him.

Sitri continued to examine her face in the mirror as the Earth Spirit fought, unable to even cry out for help as she squeezed. Without facing him, she asked, "Where is she?"

The Earth Spirit croaked out, unable to breathe a coherent answer.

The demoness finally looked at him and smiled. "Oh, my apologies," she said, relaxing her grip so the spirit could summon breath, but not letting him go. "Now where is Belldandy? Where did she go?"

"I would never tell you such a thing!" he replied, his voice hoarse.

Sitri sighed. She, of course, had known about the Earth Spirit trapped in Megumi's apartment since the moment she walked into it the week Keiichi's sister arrived. Of course, she didn't feel any particular need to tell Megumi about her unwelcome guest, and if it helped drive the mortal girl away, so much the better.

But if Belldandy had been here, then she must have learned of his presence as well, perhaps even spoke to him, and it looked like that bet had paid off.

Frowning, Sitri forced the spirit to the ground, his hands still clutching at hers as he tried to get away.

"You defy _me_?!" she hissed quietly. "Where do _you_ get the courage to defy _me!_?" She squeezed harder and channeled painful, dark energy into the Earth Spirit, who thrashed on the floor but was unable to cry out for help.

"I allowed you to live thus far out of the generous nature of my heart!" she hissed. "And you repay my kindness with this defiance?!" She shocked the Earth Spirit again. "I will have your skin hanging from my wall before sun-up tomorrow!"

There was a knock at the door, and Keiichi's voice floated in.

"Sitri? Are you okay? I heard some weird noises..."

The demon smiled and called over her shoulder. "Just making myself beautiful for you, Keiichi san!" she sang happily. She turned back to the Earth Spirit and her smile vanished. "If you love life, you will tell me where the goddess bitch went!"

The Earth Spirit coughed in reply. "I will not... betray... Lady... Belldandy!" he gasped out.

Sitri snarled and reversed the flow of energy in her hand. Instead of pouring darkness into the spirit, she took light in, draining the deity of his power until his life force faded into nothingness, leaving no trace behind.

The demon spat a hateful breath before rising to her full height. Her mother was _not_ going to like this. Not only had Belldandy escaped from right under her nose, but she and Keiichi had met, the exact event Hild had worked so hard to prevent.

Sitri took a breath. This wasn't as bad as it seemed. Using logic, she could deduce two key facts.

One: Keiichi didn't know Belldandy was a goddess. If she had told him, he would have mentioned the fact to Sitri in order to either try to confirm it or to see if they knew one another. After all, even though he wanted to hide her "goddesshood" from other mortals, there was no sense in hiding it from other goddesses. Which meant that although they had met, they were not aware of one another's significance.

Two: Belldandy now knew who Sitri was, which meant she was either calling Heaven for help or was fleeing back there as fast as her little, white wings would carry her. Either way, she could expect Heaven to respond in some way and soon. She would have to be on guard.

Of course, this also meant she had to move quickly to cement her hold on Keiichi. She decided to start by mending fences with Megumi. This would both please her mortal boyfriend and at the same time, perhaps, pacify the younger Morisato. Then, a few months from now, when Megumi meets with a senseless and horrifying motorcycle accident that takes her life, Sitri could grieve alongside her Keiichi and seem totally believable.

She flushed the toilet and stepped out of the bathroom. Time to get back to work.

888

The restaurant was crowded, and the music was loud, making it hard for Belldandy to hear the pay phone's dial tone until she punched the volume button three times. She dialed in the one-hundred-forty-three digit number to reach the Help Line's main office in record time and fidgeted as she waited, her eyes constantly going to the door as if Sitri would burst through any moment.

By the third ring, she was starting to despair. In her flight from Megumi's, she hadn't had time to think about her situation. In the few minutes since she entered The Wharf, that had changed, and the full impact of what was happening, what _could_ happen to her, was starting to frighten her. Of all the stories she had heard about the Duchess of Malebolge, very, _very_ few included the word "survivors." However, nearly all of them included "victims."

Finally, there was a click. "Goddess Help Line, this is Freya," her boss said.

"Ms. Freya! It's Belldandy!" the goddess cried into the receiver. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes.

"Belldandy?" The elder goddess must have heard the fear in her voice because her next question was, "Are you all right?! What's wrong?"

The goddess's eyes went to the door again. "I'm on Earth," she said quickly. She swallowed, not really wanting to say the woman's name lest it somehow summon her. "Sitri is here. She's looking for me."

"Sitri?!" The barest hint of disbelief entered Freya's voice. "Belldandy... are you sure? Sitri is..."

"HERE!" Belldandy cried. "She is HERE!" Tears were running down the goddess's face now.

"All right, Belldandy, I understand," Freya told her, trying to speak in a soothing voice for her goddess. "Where are you now? Are you safe?"

"H..Hai, I think so," Belldandy said, giving the restaurant another look.

"Good. Stay there. I'm going to call Commander Lind. I want you to call me back in exactly five minutes. Do you understand?"

"Hai."

"All right. Five minutes from now." With that, the line went dead. Belldandy hung up and choked back a sob. Five minutes... it might as well be five years.

She needed to talk to someone, to prove to herself she wasn't alone.

Picking up the phone again, she dialed another long series of numbers and waited.

"NOSC. This is Urd," her sister's voice came over the line.

"Thank you, Almighty," Belldandy whispered. "Urd, it's me."

"Belldandy? Belldandy? Is that you?"

"Hai! Urd... I... I'm in trouble..."

"What's the matter?! Are you okay?!"

Belldandy swallowed and tried to regain her composure. Her sister's voice helped. "Hai... I just... I just needed to hear a friendly voice..."

"What's wrong? Belldandy, where are you?"

"I'm on Earth," she answered. "In a little restaurant in Nekomi... I... There's a demon here, and..." She shut her eyes. "Urd... I'm afraid..."

Her eyes found the clock on the wall and realized that she only had twenty seconds left.

"Urd, I have to go."

"Belldandy! Wait! Where are you?!"

Belldandy hung up and redialed Freya's number. This time, the phone only rang once before the Help Line's director picked up.

"Belldandy?!"

"Hai."

"Belldandy," Freya said in relief. "I have Lind on the line. I want you to tell her everything you know."

The goddess closed her eyes and took a breath before telling her every detail of her trip to Earth, ending with her phone call to Freya. By the end, tears were running down her face.

"Belldandy, you did the right thing," Lind's calm, measured voice came through. Though nearly devoid of emotion, Belldandy took comfort from it. When it came to dangerous situations, Valkyries were experts. If Lind said she was on the right track, then she was. "You said you were in a restaurant, a public place?"

"Hai," Belldandy answered.

"Are there people, or are you the only customer?"

"It's crowded," she said, taking a quick look around as if to reassure herself of her answer.

"Good," Lind said. "Now I want you to listen to me very carefully. From what you've said, Sitri's mission appears to be one of subterfuge. That means she won't strike if it means exposing herself. As long as you're in a public place, you should be safe. Stay there. Don't go anywhere by yourself. Do you understand?"

"Hai," Belldandy breathed.

"Good. I'm ordering a strike team to your location, but it will take time for them to assemble," Lind went on. "When they arrive, I need you to take them to Sitri's lair, where that young woman told you to go. Can you do that?"

The Norn gathered her courage. "Hai!"

"Good. In the meantime, remember what I said. Don't go anywhere alone. Stay there! If... _If_ she arrives there, don't engage her. Run. Do you understand me perfectly? Do _not_ attempt to fight her off yourself."

Belldandy nodded even though Lind couldn't see her. "Hai."

"Belldandy, it's me again," Freya said with concern. "Do what Commander Lind says, okay? Don't risk yourself."

"What about Keiichi Morisato sama and Megumi san?" Belldandy asked.

There wasn't an immediate answer. When Freya finally spoke again, it was with a nonanswer.

"Listen to Commander Lind," she said again. "All right?"

"Hai."

"I want you to call back every twenty minutes so we know you're okay."

"Hai."

"Okay," Freya said quietly. "Twenty minutes. Good luck, Belldandy."

There was a click, and Belldandy was alone again in the crowded room. Hanging up, she searched the dining room for a place to sit and sat down at a small table near the phone. Swallowing, she bit her lip and set about waiting, unaware of the silver-tressed woman approaching from behind her.

888

Sitri re-entered the kitchen and smiled. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to make you wait."

"It's okay," Keiichi said with a smile. Megumi looked less than pleased, but Sitri expected that.

"Before we begin," Sitri said, preventing the siblings from eating once again. "I'd... I'd like to say something." She put enough trepidation and nervousness in her voice to pique their interest.

Megumi shrugged. "Shoot."

The demon bit her lip demurely and hesitated for a moment. Finally, to the surprise of both Morisatos, she dropped to her knees in front of Megumi and lowered her head to the ground.

"Forgive me, Megumi san," she said with just the barest hint of a sniffle.

Megumi looked as if a Lagoon Creature had burst into her kitchen. "Um... What?!" Even Keiichi looked shocked at his girlfriend's behavior.

Sitri didn't look up from the black and white linoleum. "I beg your forgiveness," she said formally. "I... I have not been kind to you... and I did not realize why until today."

The younger Morisato cleared her throat, unsure of what to expect at this point. "Oh?" she asked noncommittedly.

"Hai," Sitri replied softly. "Before coming here, Keiichi san told me why we were coming to dinner here. He said something that gave me pause. He said the two most important women in his life couldn't be in the same room together. It was then that I realized why I have been acting the way I have." She paused and looked up at Megumi. "I have been jealous of you."

"Jealous?!" Megumi asked in disbelief.

"Hai!" Sitri responded forcefully. "You see... I love Keiichi san. I want very much to be the most important woman in his life, but you... you and he have a bond that I can never know or be a part of. No matter how large a role I play in his life, you will have always been there first. You knew him as a child, have seen parts of his life I never can... and that made me jealous." Her head hit the floor again. "So please forgive me! Our relationship should not be adversarial! You are no rival! You are his sister, and one day... I... I hope you will be mine!"

It was the stuff Oscars were made of, and it had the desired effect.

Megumi blinked, stunned by the apology and the revelations. "Sitri san... I... I had no idea..."

Her face hidden by her bow, Sitri smiled.

The younger Morisato knelt next to her and took the demon's hands, pulling her up so that she could face her.

"I'm sorry too," Megumi said. "Maybe... Maybe I was just so used to... protecting... Kei chan that I... that I... I don't know... Maybe I set the bar so high that no woman in his life would ever be acceptable to me and..."

"But that is your role!" Sitri argued, summoning tears to her eyes. "To protect him from women with... less than pure intentions..."

"Yeah, but... He loves you... so..." Megumi cleared her throat. "I should have made more of an effort."

Sitting nearby, Keiichi beamed. Seeing his smile, Sitri grinned...

But for very different reasons.

888

Belldandy nearly jumped ten feet in the air when she felt the hand come down on her shoulder. When she saw who it was, she leapt up again and hugged the woman.

"Neesan!" she cried.

"Belldandy! Are you okay?!" the elder Norn asked, frank concern in her eyes.

"Hai," Belldandy said. "But... how did you find me?"

"Yggdrasil," Urd told her, sitting down opposite her sister. "As soon as you hung up, I zeroed in on you and came down to help."

"Without permission?" Belldandy asked with a blink. "You could get into serious trouble, Neesan!"

Urd waved the thought aside. "Don't worry! I left the squirt in charge."

"Skuld is in charge of Yggdrasil operations?"

"Don't worry," Urd said. "What can go wrong? Now tell me what's happening."

For the second time that night, Belldandy told the whole story. By the time she finished, Urd had a troubled look on her face.

"This doesn't make any sense," she breathed.

"Hai," Belldandy agreed sadly.

"I mean... have you ever heard of this boy before?" she asked.

The younger goddess shook her head. "All I know is that he's to receive a wish! But many receive wishes without incurring attention from the Demon Realm!"

"And why send _her_?" Urd asked. "It's so... so unlike Hild," she went on.

"Did you... ever meet her?" Belldandy asked, aware she was entering sensitive territory with her half-sister.

Urd shook her head, staring off into space. "No... I don't even know if we're actually related. But even if we aren't, everything I've heard about her tells me she's special. That's why you don't see her outside of Hell. Hild saves her for... 'special occasions.' So what's so special about Keiichi Morisato?!"

"He's..." Belldandy broke off. Urd waited for her to continue. "He's a good man," she finished.

"That doesn't tell me anything," Urd growled with an arched eyebrow.

"I don't know, Neesan," Belldandy continued. "But I know he doesn't deserve whatever she has planned for him." She stood up. "I have to help him."

"No, you don't," Urd said. "You have to wait for the Valkyries to get here. _Then_ you have to help him."

Belldandy, looking miserable and deflated by her sister's words, sat down again.

"In the meantime, I'm going to do some snooping," Urd declared. "As soon as the Valks get here and I know you're safe with them, I'm going to do an Yggdrasil search on Keiichi Morisato and find out what could possibly have put him in Hild's crosshairs. Something stinks here, Sis."

"Neesan," Belldandy whispered, "It _is_ a seafood restaurant..."

Urd sighed. "Now _that's_ the Belldandy I know and love." She smiled.

"Belldandy?"

They looked up as four women in grey cloaks approached them. The leader of the group, a shorter woman with closely cropped red hair, addressed them again.

"Belldandy?" she asked.

"Hai?"

"I am Bellona," the woman told her. "We were ordered to meet with you here so that you might guide us to the lair of the Duchess of Malebolge."

"You're Valkyries?" Belldandy asked in happy relief.

Bellona nodded. "Please, we should leave quickly. There is much to be done before we can move."

Belldandy rose to her feet and nodded. "I understand." She turned to Urd, who cut her off before she could say anything.

"I'm going to find out whatever I can about this guy," she said. "I'll find a way to contact you when I know more."

The Norn nodded. "And Neesan," she said. "Thank you."

Urd smiled. "Hey, what are sisters for?"

888

It was after ten p.m. when Keiichi and Sitri returned to their little house. Turning the lights on and tossing his keys on the table near the love seat, Keiichi stretched and yawned.

"Not a bad dinner," he remarked. "I mean... it wasn't yours, but..."

Sitri smiled. After her little performance, the rest of the night had gone wonderfully. Megumi practically fell all over herself to make the demon feel welcome. Now that that relationship was patched up, it was time to move onto cementing hers with Keiichi.

He faced her and smiled. "Thank you, Sitri," he said. "For making the effort. It means a lot to me."

"I am your goddess, Keiichi san," she said with an impish grin. "I would do anything for you."

She put enough innuendo into the statement to make the boy blush, a blush that only intensified as she stepped toward him.

"Keiichi san," she whispered, placing her fingers to his cheek. "I have granted one of your wishes this evening... Will you grant one of mine?"

He cleared his throat. "One of... um... _your_... wishes?" he stammered.

"Hai," she whispered, leaning into him. Her body felt warm against his, almost feverish. He swallowed as he suddenly found himself sitting on the love seat with his goddess pushing him against the arm rest. His heart started to beat faster in his chest as this beautiful woman made her intentions known.

"Sitri?" he whispered.

"Keiichi san, I want to know," she said quietly. "I want to know how mortals make love."

His heart jumped into his throat. "Um... Sitri... I..."

He felt her press her hands harder against his chest, as if to prevent him from getting up. "Keiichi san, I want you to love me the way other men love their girlfriends. Show me..." She leaned down and planted her lips firmly on his.

Keiichi closed his eyes as the otherworldly woman kissed him thoroughly. He reached up to wrap his arms around her, hearing her gasp against his lips as he did so.

And suddenly...

_Her_ face appeared behind his eyelids, with the most disappointed look of sadness he had ever seen.

_Belldandy san?!_

Sitri felt the change in him and sat up, straddling his legs.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "Am I... Am I doing it wrong?" she asked innocently.

He bit his lip and tried to think of something to say that wouldn't end with a fight. Keiichi wasn't that experienced with women, but even he knew that the words, "I was just thinking about another girl I know," were the absolute wrong ones to say in this instance.

"It's just..." he began. "Well... I just... I want this to be special," he said, only half meaning it.

Sitri took it and ran. Smiling broadly, she clasped her hands together. "Keiichi san! What a wonderful idea!"

"Um... it is?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Hai!" She leaned down and stared into his eyes. "We should get away! Go somewhere where we can be alone! A secluded, romantic place!"

"Um... yeah?" he asked.

"Hai," she purred. "And I think I know just the place..."

"But... I have class..."

"It'll just be for a few days," Sitri said, genuinely liking this idea. Getting him away from the only place Belldandy knew where to find him was a good start. Stealing his innocence and his virginity would be a fantastic follow-up.

"But..."

"Keiichi san," she said with a noticeable droop of disappointment. "Don't you want to be with me?"

"Yeah! Of... Of course I do!"

"Good!" she replied, clapping. "We'll leave tomorrow! Bright and early!"

With that, the demon dashed into her bedroom to pack, leaving Keiichi in the living room to wonder what had happened.

888

"Urd! That's a bunch of crap! I'm dying up here! You better get back up here before I tell on y..."

The eldest Norn hung up the third floor courtesy phone and grinned at the act. Some time in the big chair up at the NOSC would do Skuld some good. In the meantime, she had research to do.

While her sister was up on the top floor of the Yggdrasil Operations Center, the research archives occupied the third floor, practically the cellar. Turning, she headed for the research interface lab.

The automatic door opened just as she approached but, not realizing it wasn't opening for her, ran headlong into the goddess walking out.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Urd said. "Didn't seeya there."

A flash of recognition flew over the other goddess's face. "Oh," she said quickly. "No problem."

It took a moment, but Urd recognized the goddess. Though they had never actually spoken, over the course of millenia you got to know the face of just about every goddess in Heaven, and while her hair was now a midnight black to correspond with the time of night, Urd knew the face of the goddess of the dawn.

"Aurora, right?" Urd asked.

"Yes," Aurora replied carefully. "You're Urd, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me. Goddess and legend both."

Urd frowned. Aurora seemed very uncomfortable around her and figured it was her heritage. Despite Belldandy's best efforts to help her fit in, Urd never really got along with too many other goddesses and as such had developed something of a reputation.

"Well... Excuse me," Urd said, pushing past the Dawn.

As if silently agreeing to go their separate ways, Aurora walked down the hall away from her. Urd gave a quiet sigh and entered the lab, taking a seat in the interface's lone terminal.

Bringing up the search bar, she started to type.

_K...E..._

_KEIICHI MORISATO_

She blinked in surprise as the autocomplete function offered her the exact name she was looking for. Someone else had been searching for information on Morisato...

Urd brought up the search history and found the list of every search made on the terminal in the last five days, but she didn't have to look nearly that far.

_KEIICHI MORISATO – FOUR MINUTES AGO_

Urd leapt out of her seat and ran to do the door. It had to be Aurora! Why the goddess of the dawn was searching for information on Keiichi Morisato was beyond her, but she wasn't going to find out unless she asked.

Rushing out of the lab, she looked over the railing that overlooked the operations center's lobby two stories below. She found the goddess typing into a Blackberry near the entrance.

"HEY!" she cried, pointing at the goddess. Aurora made no sign that she heard, forcing Urd to take more drastic steps. Grabbing hold of the safety railing, she leapt over it and toward the Dawn. Normally, a goddess would slow her fall, but with time a factor, Urd let gravity do its job and allowed it to pull her headlong to the ground.

At the last second, she put on the brakes but still hit the ground harder than she would have liked. It did, however, put her right next to the startled goddess.

"Wha..."

Urd grabbed her by the front of her crimson robes. "What do you want with Keiichi Morisato!?" she demanded. All around them, goddesses twittered to one another, and Urd was sure they were already getting the latest "did you hear what Urd did?" rumor started.

She didn't care. Her sister was in trouble and she didn't have the time to deal with the cackling bimbos just now. She gave Aurora a shake.

"You were just doing a search on Keiichi Morisato!" she said accusingly. "I want to know why!"

Aurora pulled away from Urd and straightened her robe. "My research is my own!" she argued. "And is none of your concern!"

"It _concerns_ me when my sister is being attacked because of him!" Urd growled.

"Belldandy is being attacked?" Aurora asked, blinking.

"How did you know I meant Belldandy?" Urd asked with narrowed eyes.

"Don't get snippy!" Aurora chastised. "Who is attacking Belldandy?"

"A demon named Sitri," Urd said, dialing back the rage a bit in exchange for some real answers. "She's Keiichi Morisato's girlfriend."

"A demon?! Involved with Morisato?!" Aurora gasped, biting her lip. Turning away, she muttered just loud enough for Urd to hear. "Then it is already as Oracle feared..."

"What?"

"Do you know where Belldandy is now?!" Aurora asked.

"Kinda-sorta," Urd replied shiftily.

Aurora grabbed her hands and pulled her toward the exit. "You must come with me! We must bring this to my sister!"

"Wait! What?!"

888

Standing on the roof of an apartment building near the park where Sitri first attacked her, Belldandy pointed at a small house nearby.

"I think that is it," she said.

Bellona knelt near the edge of the rooftop and examined the house critically, searching for threats or sentries. Finding none, she turned to Belldandy skeptically. "Are you sure?"

The Norn went back through Hasegawa's directions step by step. Finding the park again had been easy. Once she had done that she simply continued following what the young college student had told her, which led her right to this house.

She nodded. "Hai."

"Hmm," Bellona remarked uncertainly as she turned back to view the house again. She looked up at the sky and nodded. "It will be light soon. We'll have to move quickly if we hope to take the demon by surprise."

"What will you do?" Belldandy asked.

"We will attack," Bellona told her as casually as if she announced her intention to go to the store and buy eggs. "We will storm the house, catch the demon unawares and seal her. With luck, it will take only a few moments."

A horrified thought struck Belldandy. "But what about Keiichi Morisato sama!?" she asked. "He lives in this house as well!"

"The demon is as much a danger to him as anyone else," Bellona said.

"Yes, but when you attack he could be injured!"

The Valkyrie fixed an irritated glare on the Norn. "We'll try not to bruise him while we save his life," she bit out. "Rising to her full height, she addressed the other three war goddesses. "We move quickly. Storm the door, seal the demon and get back out." She saw Belldandy's concerned look and sighed. "And watch what you shoot at. There's a noncombatant inside. Questions?"

There were none.

"Belldandy, you will remain here, out of danger," Bellona told her.

"Hai," she agreed.

She watched nervously as the four Valkyries leapt over the side of the building and toward the danger waiting for them below.

888

Keiichi yawned as he poured himself another cup of coffee. Sitri had roused him early, impossibly happy. She smiled and hummed to herself as she made him breakfast, but wouldn't budge on where they were going so early.

She kissed him on the cheek as she put a pancake on his plate. "I'm so excited," she said. "I have everything taken care of."

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "I still don't have any clue what you're planning."

"Oh, nothing special," she purred in his ear. "Just a nice, secluded mountain cabin in Hokkaido. Just you and me and not another soul for a hundred miles."

"A cabin?" he asked, just a bit skeptically as visions of rustic hunting lodges with no heat floated into his head.

Sitri, however, had different visions. "Hai," she said softly. "A roaring fire, a bottle of wine, a cozy bear rug on the floor where we can..." She broke off and whispered more into his ear, causing the boy to blush furiously.

"That... That sounds like a... _really_ nice cabin," he finished.

The demon grinned. "I thought you'd say so," she said. "Are you packed?"

"Yeah," he said, standing up from the table. "I just need to strap my bag to the Beemer and we can..."

"Shh!" Sitri said suddenly, holding a hand up.

Keiichi blinked, wondering if this was part of Sitri's presentation. The goddess, he found, often had a flair for the dramatic. This time, however, an almost irritated look appeared on her face.

"Sitri?" he asked.

She said nothing for a moment, her gaze going to the front door. When she did speak, it was in a haunting whisper. "'And the father hen will call his chickens home,'" she said, staring at the door. "'The wise man will bow down before the thorns... and at his feet they will cast the golden crowns...'"

"Um... what?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Demons," she hissed.

"Demons?! You mean like... devils? Mazoku?"

Without facing him, she held a glowing hand up to him, and with a flash of light, the boy found a green, crystal wall between him and his girlfriend.

"Hey!" he cried, putting his hands against it. Looking around, he found that it wasn't a wall, but a four-sided crystal encasing him. "Sitri!"

She turned to him and smiled gently. "Fear not, Keiichi san," she said. "I'll protect you from them."

"Huh?!"

Sitri turned as their front door exploded outward, as if the door were pulled off its hinges by a giant, and four cloaked figures rushed in, taking up positions in a semi-circle around her.

Bellona raised a gladius to her, perturbed at finding the demon, not in bed, but awake and facing them.

"Surrender!" the Valkyrie demanded. "And submit to sealing!"

Sitri grinned, her eyes turning red. "I will not allow the trash of the underworld to harm Keiichi san!"

888

Belldandy licked her lips nervously as she watched the four Valkyries dart into the house below. The wind whipping across the roof made it very difficult to hear anything, but she could catch bits and pieces floating on the wind if she strained hard enough.

There was nothing for several moments and then...

She jumped in her skin as an explosion knocked out one corner of the house, sending one of Bellona's Valkyries out with it! The report of demonic blasts and magic spells roared up to her hiding place on the apartment roof, nearly deafening her. There was another explosion, and she heard Bellona calling out to her Valkyries.

"PULL BACK! PULL BACK!"

Belldandy covered her mouth with her hands, horrified by the feelings of fear and agony she was sensing! She heard a new sound and looked up to find thousands of flying creatures, crows and bats, midnight black, flying over her and diving down toward the house.

Another explosion pulled her gaze back to the house. The Valkyries were being slaughtered!

She knew she had to help them. Gathering her courage, she leapt over the side of the building and floated as quickly as she could toward the house.

888

Bellona watched as two energy blasts from her outstretched hand, struck the living shield of bats that Sitri had summoned around her, killing two of the creatures but leaving the demon unscathed. She limped backwards, the wound in her knee enough to cripple a regular god and still good enough to cause her untold pain.

From behind her shield, Sitri, reveling in the act of inflicting pain on others, laughed cruelly as before singing to the Valkyrie.

"'_And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts!'" _She recited, stepping toward the war goddess, whose back struck the wall, blocking her escape. Sitri grinned_. "'And I looked and behold! A pale horse!'"_

Bellona raised her gladius but suddenly found silver strands of light wrapped around her wrist and throat, paralyzing and weakening her.

"'_And the name who sat on him was Death!'_"

She croaked in miserable realization as the bats parted before her and she found the demoness's cruel grin laughing at her.

"'_And Hell followed with him...'"_

The Valkyrie saw spots appear before her eyes, followed by a cloak of darkness that fell over her like a cold winter's night.

Standing over the Valkyrie's defeated form, Sitri sighed happily and allowed the bats and crows to leave.

"Sitri?!" she heard her soon-to-be-lover calling from his prison in the other room. "Sitri! What's going on?! Are you all right?!"

"He's so sweet," Sitri noted to Bellona's body. Realizing that the Valkyrie wasn't going to answer, Sitri shrugged to her. "Not that you care now..."

888

Belldandy rushed through the hole in the wall where the door used to be, hoping she was in time to be of some help, and gasped at the carnage before her. Two of the Valkyries were lying on the floor in unnatural and painful looking positions. A large, green crystal stood at the end of the hall, splattered with blood and feathers from where energy spells had struck crows protecting the demon.

It took her a moment before she realized there was something moving inside the crystal. Through the blood, she could just make out the face.

"Keiichi Morisato sama!" she gasped.

"Belldandy san?!" he cried back, his voice muffled by the thick green wall between them.

She took a step toward him, but suddenly felt something grab her throat and pull her into another room. Looking up, she managed to get a glimpse of the demoness a second before her back struck the living room floor!

Without thinking, Belldandy reached up with her left hand, hoping the trick that worked last time would save her again now, but Sitri snagged her wrist with her other hand and pinned it to the floor next to the goddess's head.

"Oh no," Sitri said, clucking in disapproval. "We won't be doing that again." She grinned and examined Belldandy's hand, harshly wrenching the Norn's wrist so she could get a better look at the ring. "Is this the offending bauble?" she asked.

Belldandy didn't answer as she continued to struggle against the demon's grip.

"Very pretty," Sitri said as she regarded the ring. "Whoever gave it to you must have loved you very much." Her expression turned to one of amusement. "I do hope you didn't break his heart the way I intend to break yours." She punctuated this by squeezing the Norn's throat harder.

Belldandy whimpered, her eyes tearing up in pain.

"Sitri?!" she heard Keiichi call. "Belldandy san?! Belldandy san, are you all right?!"

"Keiichi Morisato sama," she whispered.

"Yes," Sitri noted. "_My_ Keiichi Morisato sama," she hissed. She laughed at the Norn cruelly. "In a way, it's kind of sad," she said. "To take something so precious from one who doesn't even realize it was hers to begin with. To be trifled with by a goddess who has no idea with what she's involved herself."

Belldandy's eyes could see the far wall and could see the first wisps of sunlight coming through the window. She blinked as the light traveled slowly up the wall, outlining a new shape, a human figure.

Sitri didn't notice the figure taking shape nearby. She bent her head until her lips were nearly touching Belldandy's earlobe. "I'm going to take his virginity, his heart, his _soul_!" she hissed into the goddess's ear. "I will take everything good in him and twist it into something of my own! He will be my masterpiece!"

The sunlight on the wall continued to rise, giving form to the new arrival as it began to phase into this world...

"And when I'm done, I might just let you see him," Sitri continued to whisper. "But until then, I'm going to have to seal you someplace dark and unpleasant..."

"Dawn has come," Belldandy noted quietly.

Sitri blinked, unsure of what the sunrise had to do with this. "So?"

"She means watch out behind you!" the demoness heard. Turning quickly, she saw a woman with a dark orange mane of hair swing a staff with a golden orb on one end right toward her face!

The staff struck Sitri across the eyes, and the brightest light the demon had ever been subjected to burned into her eyes as if reaching for her mind. Sitri screamed, her hands flying to her eyes as she tried to rub her sight back into being.

Aurora grabbed Belldandy's arm and pulled the Norn into the hall.

"Grab Morisato and get out of here!" the Dawn cried. "To my sister's home on the Styx! I'll distract her!"

Sitri, still blinded by Aurora's light, screamed and started to blast in every direction she could think of! Parts of the roof began to fall in as Belldandy rushed to the crystal.

The goddess placed her hand on the green gem and saw a very confused mortal on the other side.

"Stand away, Keiichi sama!" she cried. Keiichi pressed against the far side of the crystal as Belldandy channeled power through her hand and into the prison, cracking it open like an egg.

Freed from his prison, Keiichi blinked at her. "Belldandy san?"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bathroom. "Quickly!" she urged. "We must leave!"

Another demonic blast struck the wall near them as Sitri, in her fury, attacked every direction indiscriminately.

"Wait! What about Sitri!?" Keiichi cried.

Belldandy found the bathroom mirror and touched the silver glass. The pane began to glow a bright blue.

"Wait! What's going on!" Keiichi demanded.

They turned as they heard a scream of fury from Sitri down the hall, a dark, hideous sound of impotent fury.

"S...Sitri?" Keiichi whispered.

There wasn't time to wait anymore. Casting a quick levitation spell, Belldandy raised the boy into the air and launched him through the mirror like a sack of potatoes. The goddess gave a last look back, hoping that Aurora had already escaped. She felt the darkness of Sitri's soul approaching and decided she had no choice anymore. She had to leave.

Hoisting herself onto the sink, Belldandy dived into the mirror just as the demon smashed through the far wall and raked her claws across it, shattering it into a million pieces.

Sitri howled in rage.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. When a Woman Loves a Man

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "Mad World" is by Tears for Fears.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 5**

**When a Woman Loves a Man**

Keiichi Morisato cried out as he reappeared and fell toward the ground only to hit a soft, down comforter and several pillows instead. Blinking, he raised his head and looked at the bright red blankets and pillows. Turning, he saw he was lying on a four poster bed that looked like it belonged in a love hotel. The posts themselves were golden statues of angels in enticing poses, and turning onto his back he found himself looking at his own image reflected in a mirror above.

"Weird," he breathed.

Suddenly, the mirror flashed a bright blue, and a new figure emerged, falling right on top of him with a cry of surprise.

Instinctively, Keiichi reached out and tried to catch the new arrival, his arms going around her waist as she landed on top of him.

Collecting herself, Belldandy leaned up and looked down at the boy, who was staring up at her with an intense blush. She gave a sigh of relief at seeing him safe.

_He's all right, _she thought, relieved that the trans-dimensional trip hadn't harmed him. _I suppose I should get off him now... _

_Yes... I probably should... _

_Any time now... _

_Whenever you're ready..._

Keiichi cleared his throat, his eyes not leaving hers.

"B... Belldandy san," he said. "Um..."

"Would the two of you like some privacy?"

They both blinked in surprise and turned quickly, finding a blonde woman sitting in a chair nearby. Her eyes were cast downward at her hands as she expertly knitted a pair of stockings.

The two quickly separated, and Belldandy climbed off the bed, bowing to the woman. She blinked as she realized she recognized the goddess.

"Oracle san," she said in greeting.

The other goddess looked up and smiled at her. "Belldandy, I'm so glad you both made it. When Aurora told me about Sitri, I feared the worst."

The Norn cleared her throat and gestured to the boy sitting on the bed. "This is..."

"Keiichi Morisato," Oracle finished, standing up and putting her knitting aside. "I feel like I've known you your entire life."

Keiichi, unsure of what to say to such a comment, looked up at the gold posts and the mirror above him. "Nice place," he said simply.

Oracle smiled. "Thank you. I like the mirror. I hope one day to see myself sleeping."

"See yourself?" Keiichi asked.

"Indeed," the script-writer said. "It is in sleep that one's true face emerges." She turned to Belldandy. "You agree, yes, Belldandy?" she asked. "I'm sure you've watched Morisato san sleep many a night."

It was Belldandy's turn to be confused. She gave Keiichi a look, suddenly realizing that Oracle had it backward. While she had not seen Keiichi sleep, Keiichi _had_ seen her. She wondered what he saw and what he thought of it.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand..." Belldandy began.

Oracle's face pinched in self reproach. "I'm sorry!" she said quickly. "I keep forgetting..." She broke off and waved for them to follow her. "Please, come with me. I'll explain what I can over tea and lemon cookies! Everything always sounds best with tea and lemon cookies!"

Belldandy started to follow, but Keiichi held up a hand, refusing to leave the safety of the bed.

"Woah!" he said, "Just a second!" Oracle and Belldandy turned back and looked at him quizzically. "Now, I'm not an unreasonable guy, but I've just seen some very unreasonable things. And I'm not going anywhere until I know where I am, where my girlfriend is and what the heck just happened back there!"

Oracle considered his demands and cleared her throat. "You are in my home on the banks of the River Styx in a province of Heaven called Elysium. Your girlfriend is most likely still in Nekomi, hunting my sister with the intent to violently murder her if she catches her. And as for what just happened, young Belldandy here just saved you from a demon who had just butchered four Valkyries and would have butchered her if my sister had not arrived in time to save her."

Keiichi just stared, his mind unable to come to grips with what had just been said.

Oracle smiled. "Now then... tea? Cookies?" She turned and started for the door again.

The boy stared after her numbly. "Okay," he said.

888

Sitri stood in the shattered remains of the house she had shared with Keiichi. After losing Belldandy, she had gone after the Dawn, but lost the bitch before her sight had fully returned. She had turned her powers toward putting up the illusion that the house was still perfect from the outside. She didn't want people snooping around. On the inside though, it was a wreck.

She entered the bathroom and looked at the shards of mirror that lay at the bottom of the sink. Picking one up, she held it aloft and stared into it.

"Mother," she called in bitter resignation.

This time it only took a moment before Hild's eye appeared in the glass shard. "Yes, Sweetie?" she asked.

"There's been... a hiccup," Sitri confessed casually.

Hild was silent for several moments. "What kind of 'hiccup?'" she asked.

Sitri took a breath and sneered. "The kind of hiccup where my Keiichi and Belldandy meet, she takes him to who-knows-where, and I kill four Valkyries."

"Ah," Hild said simply. "Would that be why four of my demons just suddenly dropped dead not long ago?"

"It's certainly possible," Sitri replied calmly as if they were discussing the weather.

"I hope not," Hild said. "Because I seem to remember telling you _NOT TO KILL ANYONE!"_

Sitri hissed like an enraged cobra. "You told me not to kill _Belldandy!_" she retorted. "And I didn't!"

"You think playing with semantics will dull my anger?" Hild growled. "You have failed..."

"The real game has not yet begun!" Sitri hissed back. "I will find them! I will find them both! That boy is _mine!_"

"Keiichi Morisato..."

"KEIICHI MORISATO IS MY BOYFRIEND!" Sitri screamed at her. "HE IS MINE, AND I WILL HAVE HIM! DO YOU HEAR ME! I WILL FIND HIM! I WILL BRING HIM BACK! I WILL BREAK HIM! I WILL TWIST HIS SOUL! AND HE WILL _LOVE ME FOR IT!_"

Hild said nothing. Sitri was breathing hard, her rage taking a toll on her body and composure.

"I'm bringing you home," Hild said simply, trying not to rile her obviously unstable daughter further. "We'll regroup, come up with a new plan..."

"No!" Sitri snapped. "I will handle this! _My_ way!"

"There's a plan here, Sitri," Hild growled. "An intricate, delicate plan that ends with Keiichi as my servant..."

"He belongs to me," Sitri bit out.

"You defy me?" Hild asked, ice in each syllable of the question.

"I _defy_ you!" Sitri growled, squeezing the mirror shard so intensely that black blood seeped from the cuts in her palm. "You kept me in that hell! Prevented me from having a life of my own! Well I'm off my leash now, Mother, and I now know what I want! And what I want is that boy kissing my feet while I pull the skin from that goddess whore's bones!"

"Sitri..."

"Stay out of my way," the Duchess growled, breaking the shard against the bathroom sink, ending the conversation.

She ran her hands through her hair. Her best hope right now was to find the Dawn. Find her and rip her Keiichi's whereabouts from her mind.

Turning from the broken mirror, she returned to her work.

888

Leaving the room, the three turned right and started down the hall. Oracle's home was beautiful, the walls made of a blue-white marble that stretched upward to almost forever, ending with glass ceilings that let in the pale light from an unseen sun.

Keiichi was awestruck by it, his eyes following the lines of the architecture until they finally rested on the back of a woman standing in a doorway nearby. He felt his heart stop and relief rush into him.

"Sitri!" he cried out, racing forward. "Thank God! Sitri!"

The woman started to turn to him even as he grabbed her arm, bringing him up short. He felt his hopes deflate and he blushed in embarrassment as he realized he was wrong.

"I'm... I'm sorry," he said, mortified. "I...thought... You look like... someone else," he finished in a sad whisper.

Urd blinked at him. "Yeah, no problem," she said. She looked over his shoulder and smiled at the sight that met her. "Belldandy!"

"Neesan!" Belldandy cried, rushing up to her and hugging the elder Norn. "What are you doing here?!"

"Who do you think gave Aurora your location?" Urd said with a shrug. "Speaking of which..." She glanced over to Oracle, who smiled reassuringly.

"I'm quite sure she's all right," Oracle told her. "After all, the sun has not crashed into the sea, so she must still live."

Belldandy turned to Keiichi, intent on introducing him to her sister and found the boy staring off into nothingness, obviously preoccupied by thoughts of his girlfriend. She turned sad, knowing that as awful as he felt now, he would soon feel worse as they explained the truth of the demon.

"I'm Urd," the elder goddess said, stepping forward. "Belldandy's big sister."

"Keiichi," he said in reply.

"So you're him, huh?" Urd said, sizing him up. "_The_ Keiichi Morisato." She grinned. "You're a little shorter than I thought you'd be."

He looked up at her, swallowing back pain. Though the eyes were different and Urd lacked the purple streak in her hair, she looked very much like Sitri. He wondered if she was okay, who these people were. Were they being sincere? How could he know?

"Come," Oracle said. "Cookies. Tea. This way." She started down the hall again.

As they followed, Belldandy's gaze turned to the mortal, saw the hurt in his face. She turned away again, unable to bear it anymore.

The first thing Keiichi heard as they entered the expansive dining room was bubbling, incoherent babbling in a rapid language he didn't recognize. Walking around the long rectangular table, he soon found the source, a brown-haired woman sat in a high-back chair at one end of the table, her lips moving so rapidly, Keiichi could barely see them.

"Don't mind River," Oracle told him with a smile and a gentle touch to his arm. "She's not unfriendly, just very very busy." She turned and went to the next room to fetch some tea.

Keiichi turned back to the seated woman and saw her give a quick wave in greeting to him. Just a bit perturbed by the woman, he found a seat at the other end of the table, sitting down without realizing that he was sitting next to Belldandy.

Oracle reappeared and smiled as she poured tea for each of them before sitting down at the head of the table. "Now then," she began, "Welcome to Heaven," she told Keiichi. "First time?"

"Hopefully not the last time," he muttered. "Could somebody please tell me what's going on? One minute I'm getting ready to go on a trip to Hokkaido, the next I have strange people bursting through my front door and attacking my girlfriend. Then I'm stuck in some kind of... emerald... glass thing... and then Belldandy san throws me through a mirror and I'm drinking tea like all's right with the world." He looked at them with almost desperate eyes. "So somebody... I don't care who... _please_... tell me what's going on."

Oracle bit her lip and nodded, conceding that he had a legitimate complaint. "I must warn you, Morisato san... I will not be able to tell you everything. It's... not my place to... But here is what I can tell you. The women around you are goddesses. The woman you've been living with for the last two months is not."

Keiichi said nothing.

"She is a demon," the script writer went on. "The Duchess of Malebolge... a very... very... powerful entity." Oracle paused. "I do not know for sure why she wants you. But she does... and that's not the way it's supposed to be." She turned shifty, aware she was entering into areas she wasn't supposed to talk about. "She's... It's... It's supposed to be different... Do you understand?"

The boy said nothing. For several moments, the only sound in the room was River's rambling in the background.

"The people who attacked her in your home were Valkyries," Oracle went on. "War goddesses sent to seal her and protect you."

Keiichi, again, said nothing.

Aware she was running out of things she was allowed to say, Oracle added one more simple statement.

"She's evil."

The mortal stared at her. "You're lying," he whispered. He rose to his feet and continued to glare angrily at her. "I don't believe a word of it."

"Think about it," Urd said. "Surely there have been times when you must have thought that this isn't the way a goddess should be."

"So she has a temper," Keiichi said. "And yeah, there have been times when I've been caught off guard by her, but how do I know you're not the demons here? Huh?" He waited for one of them to answer. "Can you prove you are what you say you are? That she is what you say she is? For all I know, she's out there looking for me right now, and this is all part of some... God, I sound stupid even saying it... Some diabolical scheme or something! I don't know! All I know is that I've lived with her for two months! I've known you about five minutes and Belldandy about two days, one of which she was unconscious for! So where's your proof?!"

Again, the only sound in the room was River's fast-paced narrating. Urd looked to Oracle, expecting her to explain it all like she promised she would. But the timeologist was bound by certain rules, and she couldn't just recite Keiichi's destiny, even if she did know it by heart.

"I thought so," he whispered. He turned and started for the door.

Belldandy bit her lip and looked down at her hand. The diamond in her ring twinkled at her, giving her the answer he was looking for.

"I burned her arm," she said suddenly.

Keiichi stopped in his tracks.

"What?" he asked, turning to her.

"Her right arm," Belldandy said, facing him. "She... She was the one who attacked me in the park, Keiichi sama. During the fight I... I burned her arm..."

The boy turned pale. He said nothing for several moments as his mind searched for a logical way for her to know that without her having told the truth. "You saw the bandage on her arm," he whispered.

"Then how would she know it was a burn?" Urd asked. When he said nothing, she pressed forward. "She told you it was something else right? An accident or something? Why would she cover that up?"

Keiichi didn't answer.

"Even if your theory is right, and we're the demons here," Urd went on. "Why wouldn't she tell you?"

"You saw what she did to those goddesses," Belldandy told him in a haunted whisper. "Was that the work of a goddess?"

His brain locked up as the inescapable truth refused to be shouted down by his heart. The boy could see the truth in Belldandy's words. He had watched as his girlfriend sang... _sang_... as she killed... Sang the same song she would hum while doing the dishes... killing those people... those goddesses... as if they were bugs to be exterminated.

He took a step back and fell back on his butt. He opened his mouth, but no words emerged.

Belldandy looked away, feeling guilty for causing him this pain even though she knew it was necessary.

"Um..." He finally said. "I... I need to use your phone," he said, rising to his feet. A new sense of urgency flavored his voice. "Please."

"I'll show you," Urd said, rising from her chair. The boy followed her into the hall, and Belldandy fell into step with them. Keiichi's steps quickened as he saw the elegant gold and purple phone sitting on a table nearby.

"I have to warn Megumi," he explained quickly, picking up the receiver. He looked down and found there were no buttons. "How do I..."

Belldandy reached down and touched the base, several ancient symbols lighting up in sequence. Keiichi heard a ring on the other end and tapped his foot, taking a nervous breath. Megumi had been right all along, and he didn't believe her...

"Moshi moshi," Megumi said.

"Megumi, don't say anything!" Keiichi suddenly blurted. "If Sitri is there, say... say... 'No, I don't have a satellite dish.'"

Belldandy and Urd watched as the mortal boy talked to his sister, saw a look of relief wash over his face.

"Thank god," he said. "Megumi, listen to me," he said. "I want you to get out of there. Pack a bag and go home to Hokkaido, okay? I'll call you when it's safe! I can't... I can't really explain right now..." He sighed guiltily in response to something she said. "Yeah, it has to do with Sitri... Just... Just do it, okay!?"

He closed his eyes and nodded. "Okay.... Okay, good. I promise... I'll explain it all later... Somehow..." he muttered this last word. "I love you too."

The mortal hung up the phone and stared down at it. "Why?" he whispered. Urd and Belldandy blinked at this. "Why me?" he asked softly. He turned to them, a confused, devastated look on his face. "I mean... _what did I do?!_"

The question broke Belldandy's heart. She stepped forward and took his hands in hers. "Oh, Keiichi sama," she whispered. "You mustn't think like that. This isn't your fault..."

Keiichi looked at her in disbelief.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she confessed the heart-wrenching truth to him.

"It's mine," she whispered.

Unable to face him any longer, Belldandy turned and darted down the hall. Keiichi watched her go in confused shock.

Urd regarded the boy with interest, waiting to see what the mortal would do next.

He looked up at her. "I... I don't know what to do now," he confessed.

She bit her lip. "Then do you mind doing me a favor?"

888

Belldandy sat at the end of the wooden dock, her toes dipped in the cool water of the Styx. She was still dressed in the T-shirt and shorts Megumi had loaned her, not yet having the opportunity to change into something more appropriate for Heaven and not really caring to at the moment.

She hadn't realized until Oracle had mentioned it and she had done the math. Sitri had made contact with Keiichi sama two months ago, Earth time. His phone call to the Goddess Help Line was about two and a half months ago.

Sitri met Keiichi first because Belldandy didn't pick up that phone. If she had...

_If I had... who knew how things might be different? Perhaps... he would have recognized her for what she was or..._

She sighed.

"Is it okay if I sit here?"

The question caught her off guard. Looking up, she found Keiichi standing next to her, looking down at her sad eyes.

"Hai," she said quietly.

He lowered himself down and sat cross-legged next to her. Reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Lifting the lighter, he stopped short, not lighting the cancer stick and turned to her.

"I don't think this is your fault," he said quietly. "I think it's mine."

She looked to him and blinked. "Keiichi sama... you don't understand..."

"No, I do," he broke in. He looked up at the sky and shook his head in self reproach. "I was warned. Megumi told me over and over that Sitri was bad news, and I..." He flicked the lid of the zippo up and down nervously as he tried to explain it. "I guess... You see... I never had a girlfriend before Sitri... and I guess... Maybe I was so in love with the idea that I... that I just _had_ a girlfriend... that I blinded myself to the signs that she... well... that she wasn't everything she made herself out to be..."

He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "I guess... you know, I just wasn't... _alone_... anymore, and anytime anyone said something that threatened that, I... I just dug in... and..." He took another deep breath. "Um... I..."

Belldandy looked at him and saw him blinking rapidly, turning away from her as he cleared his throat again.

"I'm... I'm sorry," he choked out.

The Norn's breath caught in her throat.

_He's trying to comfort me,_ she realized. _He just found out the woman he loved was using him for some twisted purpose... a devastating betrayal of one's feelings... and he's trying to comfort ME. Sitri never even came close to deserving him... no woman does..._

"Dammit," he muttered to himself, trying to pull the tears back into his eyes even as one ran down his cheek. He raised the lighter to his lips to light the cigarette, but was stopped by Belldandy placing her hand over it.

He turned to her and found the goddess smiling gently at him. Moving her hands up to his shoulders, she pulled him into an understanding hug and heard him choke out a sob. The lighter fell from his hands, and they heard a splash as it hit the water below them.

"Shhhhhh," she whispered as she closed her eyes and comforted him. "It's all right, Keiichi sama. The pain will recede in time... I promise it will..."

888

"Thanks, Hespera! Appreciate the lift!"

Oracle looked up from her knitting at the sound of the farewell and found Aurora walking into the sitting room from the front entryway. The goddess's hair was a bright pink now that the sun was setting. Seeing Oracle and Urd there, the Dawn shook her hair out and let out a long breath.

"Long day?" Oracle asked.

"That demon chased me all over Japan," Aurora told them. "Remind me to find a travel medium I can use more than once a day. She didn't take Morisato san's departure well..."

"Well, she _is_ evil," Oracle reminded her.

"'Evil?'" Aurora repeated. "'Evil' doesn't do her justice! That woman is bat-shit crazy!"

"Did she say anything?" Urd asked.

"Oh yeah," Aurora said with a roll of her eyes. "We parked ourselves at a Baskin Robbins to share a sundae and talk about her feelings. Unfortunately, I _don't speak 'crazy bitch!'"_ She took a deep breath. "What is her element again?"

"Love," Oracle answered with a shrug.

"LOVE?!" Oracle repeated in disbelief.

"A love _demon_?" Urd asked with an arched eyebrow.

The script writer shrugged again and returned to knitting. "There are dark aspects of love. Jealousy, greed, manipulation... Sitri controls those elements of love."

"Great," Aurora said, throwing her arms in the air. "She's the patron saint of crazy stalker chicks! Outstanding! There's someone who's sure not to hold a grudge against me!"

"Have I told you today that I appreciate all your help?" Oracle asked hopefully.

Aurora pointed a finger at her and shook her head. "I'm taking a bath." With that, the Dawn stormed off.

Urd took a breath. "So now what?" she asked. "We can't send him back with Sitri on the loose."

"I talked to Freya today on Belldandy's behalf," Oracle said. Urd arched an eyebrow at the thought of the timeologist taking the liberty of speaking _for_ Belldandy to the Norn's boss. "Keiichi may remain here until it is safe, but he is not to leave the grounds. I've also asked Belldandy not to grant his wish just yet."

"Why not?" Urd asked. "It might be the easy way out of this mess."

"Yes, it certainly would be, and I'm quite sure Keiichi wouldn't hesitate to use it as such," Oracle said. "That is why he must not know about it. That wish has a purpose beyond Sitri." She turned her attention back to her knitting. "And I will not allow the script to be hijacked again for the sake of that demon woman."

"Okay, so back to my original question," Urd said. "Now what do we do?"

Oracle stopped knitting and looked up at her, a puzzled look on her face. "How in Heaven's name should I know?"

888

The door to Megumi's apartment shattered as if someone had struck a pane of glass with a sledgehammer. Sitri casually stepped inside and smiled. "Anyone home?" she called out.

She listened for several moments for the sound of panicked scampering but upon hearing nothing, she moved from room to room, checking each for a hiding college student she could interrogate.

The demon had chased her only good lead all over Japan, but the goddess of the dawn had eluded her. She growled low in her throat. She almost had her at that Baskin Robbins...

Entering Megumi's bedroom, she found open dresser drawers, the signs of rushed packing. She walked into the room the college student had given Belldandy but found it exactly as she had left it the night before.

Her hand closed around the blue dress, still in its plastic wrap, and with a scream of rage, the demon tore the garment apart!

Breathing heavily, she worked to compose herself. Logic, she must use logic. The time for rage was later, when Belldandy's throat was in her hands. For now, she must use logic.

With Aurora being chased all over the country and Belldandy having kidnapped her man, it was unlikely that a goddess had come to take Megumi away, so the woman had left on her own. To where, Sitri wasn't sure. But maybe she didn't have to know.

She must have been tipped off, which meant...

The demon picked up the mortal girl's phone and dialed Star-69. An automated operator came on and gave its report.

"_The last number to call this phone was: Seven-Nine-Four-Six-Five-Five-Seven-Three-Two-Seven-One-Four-Four-Four-Three-Six-Seven-Nine-Eight-Nine-Eight-Six..."_

Realizing she had hit pay dirt, Sitri pressed the button to skip past the number to the next option.

"_If you would like us to dial this number now, press one."_

Sitri did so and waited, listening to the phone ring at the other end.

"Y'allo!" she heard someone answer.

"You know I won't give him up," she hissed into the receiver. "You think you can keep him from me? That I won't find him?"

The woman on the other end didn't reply.

"I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's _flames _before I give him up!" the demon bit out from between clenched teeth.

The woman finally replied. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're Sitri..."

"Is this Belldandy?" Sitri asked, her knuckles going white around the phone's handle.

"No, this is Urd."

Sitri smiled. "Urd?!" Her tone changed to that of someone who had just bumped into a long lost friend. "This is wonderful! I've always wanted to meet you! We have some things in common, you know..."

"Yeah, I heard..."

"Where is my Keiichi... Oneesama?" Sitri asked sweetly.

Urd was silent, and Sitri knew she must have scored a point there. The Norn probably had had no idea she even had a sister in the demon realm. Hild had kept her affair with Xelas's general-priest very hush-hush.

"What do you want him for?" Urd asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"He's my boyfriend," Sitri said, adding an audible lip-wibble. "My tender lover. The man who may finally turn my heart away from the darkness of the Demon Realm and into a bright, shining light of goodness and purity!"

"Never heard it called _that_ before," Urd quipped.

Sitri grinned. "Please, Oneesama?" she begged with a pout. "Put him on the phone? Just for a moment so I can..." She sniffled dramatically. "So I can tell him that I love him and I miss him!"

"Do people really buy that act?!" the Norn demanded.

"More than you would think," Sitri replied. "So... I'm guessing no?"

"Of course, no!"

"Then we are at an impasse, Oneesama," Sitri continued, sashaying toward the kitchen and rooting through Megumi's refrigerator in search of a wine cooler. "You see, I love my Keiichi, and whether you choose to believe that or not, it won't change the fact that the moment he or the little whore who took him from me set foot back on Earth, I'm going swoop down upon them like the Almighty's vengeance. So, what's say we make a deal? Between the two of us sisters?"

"I'm listening."

"Not here," Sitri said, screwing off the top of a pineapple-flavored beverage. She took a swig and continued. "Let's meet... face to face..."

Urd thought on this.

"Come on, Oneesama," Sitri said. "You're safer than anyone else, after all, can you imagine the kind of grief Mother would give me if I harmed you?"

"I'll think about it."

"Glorious!" Sitri said in a fair impression of Hild. "My place tomorrow evening! Come alone or there will be no deal now or in the future!"

With that, the demon hung up, feeling quite pleased with herself.

888

"So how's he doing?" Urd asked as she and Belldandy, now back in her normal blue outfit, walked down the hall to the front door.

"Oracle has made a room up for him here," Belldandy told her. "He'll be quite comfortable, I'm sure."

"And how are you doing?" the elder goddess asked.

Belldandy gave her a surprised look, taken aback by the amount of concern in her sister's eyes. "I'm fine," she said. She smiled. "With Keiichi sama here, I have an opportunity to atone for what I've done, even if I cannot yet grant his wish."

"I think you're putting too much of this on yourself," Urd said. "One missed phone call didn't attract Hild's attention to that kid. There's more here. Oracle implied as much. Destiny is involved somehow, that's why you can't grant Keiichi's wish yet. It makes me wonder... if something changed along the way..."

A silence fell over them for a moment.

"I'm going to Earth tomorrow," Urd told her suddenly, to Belldandy's obvious surprise. "I'm going to look for Sitri and see if I can direct the Valks to her. Nothing else can happen until she's out of the picture."

"I'll go with you," Belldandy said quickly.

Urd shook her head and smiled. "I think you need to stay here with Keiichi. You brought him here, that makes you his hostess." She leaned in. "Besides, I don't think you want to leave him alone for too long with Oracle."

"Why not?"

The elder Norn grinned. "Haven't you noticed her taste in furniture and art? Aurora was telling me that she's spent the last several hundred years here, cooped up, working from home so she could take care of River. That poor girl hasn't even _seen_ a man in hundreds of years. If Keiichi's not careful..."

Belldandy blinked. "You think Keiichi sama and Oracle could fall in love?" She looked away for a moment. "That... that would not be... awful... per se..." She seemed to gather to herself a sense of defensive ire. "But coming from a broken relationship the way he is, it would not be good for him to jump right back into another!"

Urd watched her half-sister with a sense of amusement. Belldandy was so cute sometimes. It was obvious that she had a little crush on the mortal boy.

"I agree," Urd said with a grin. "So you should definitely stay up here with him. Keep his mind off his troubles. Besides," she ended with a smile. "I think he has a thing for you."

"A thing?" Belldandy repeated in confusion. "Like a gift?"

"If that's what you want to call it," Urd said with a shrug as she walked away.

888

Stepping out of the bath, Keiichi approached the large sink and mirror and rested his hands on the off-white porcelain. Reaching up, he wiped the mirror clear until he could see his own haunted eyes reflected back at him.

He had spent the night in the guest room and found his clothes laundered, pressed and folded on the chair when he woke up, courtesy of Oracle and River, he supposed. The mortal was surprised that he hadn't heard them enter. He only barely slept, plagued by visions of Sitri promising to grant his wishes, of her telling him she loved him.

_Was any of it real?_ he asked himself. _Even if only for just a second? Could it really have been all an act? All two months of it?_

He had been played and he knew it. The feeling of betrayal was worse than any loneliness he had ever felt. What's worse was that he knew she intended to go further, to make love to him under false pretenses, to love him and yet not love him.

He felt like an idiot. Like a tool.

"Morisato san?" he heard Oracle call through the door.

"Yeah?" he called back, trying his best to at least not _sound_ irritable. Oracle and River, after all, were trying their best to make him comfortable. Of course, the whole reason he was here, imposing on them, was that he was stupid enough to believe a beautiful woman could love him.

"Belldandy is here to see you," Oracle announced.

_Belldandy san..._

888

"I think he's dressing. He should be down in a minute," Oracle said, descending the marble staircase toward the waiting goddess below. She smiled at the Norn carrying the picnic basket. "Why, Belldandy!" she remarked. "You look so pretty today!"

Belldandy smiled brightly at the compliment. "Thank you, Oracle san!"

"I'm sure Morisato san will appreciate it," Oracle told her, turning to lead the young goddess to the sitting room.

"'Appreciate it?'" Belldandy asked quizzically.

Oracle stopped and leaned toward her as if to share a secret with the Norn. "Young men like it when we pretty ourselves up for them," she whispered. "It makes them feel special." She broke off and blinked. "Or so I've been told," she said wistfully.

"Is... Is that so?" Belldandy asked with a smile.

"Indeed!" Oracle said, snapping out of her doldrums. "So, what is your plan for today?"

Belldandy held up the basket. "Well, since Keiichi sama is confined to the grounds, I thought he should at least see some of it, so I packed a lunch and came to take him on a walk. With your permission, of course, Oracle san," she added hastily.

"What a wonderful idea!" Oracle agreed. She leaned in again and whispered. "Take the north path. It leads to this little grassy river bank under the shade of some peach trees. It's a wonderful spot for two people to... get to know one another..."

"That's exactly what I wish to do!" Belldandy cried with a smile.

Oracle blinked. "You... You know what I mean when I say... 'get to know one another...' right?"

"Hai!" Belldandy replied. "There's much I would like to know about Keiichi sama's past and life! And I'm sure he must have many questions about us!"

The blonde goddess stared at her in horrified amazement. She placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oh... Oh, Honey... You've got to get out more..."

Before Belldandy could reply, Keiichi appeared at the top of the stairs, putting on his leather jacket with a subdued expression.

The goddess smiled. "Good morning, Keiichi sama," she said in greeting. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Sure," he said.

"Wonderful!" Belldandy cried. "Oracle san says the north path is a wonderful place for a picnic!"

"Among other things," the timeologist muttered as she walked off.

"Sounds good," he said. "Would you like me to take that?" he offered, gesturing to the basket.

"Oh, thank you." The Norn handed him the picnic basket and turned to lead him out the door.

888

Oracle had not been kidding when she spoke of the north path's beauty. Belldandy led the way with the river on their right and the trees providing enough shade to make the walk comfortable.

Keiichi didn't even notice. His thoughts were turned inward to the point where he didn't even spare a glance at Belldandy's rear assets. He only looked up when Belldandy stopped and gave a gasp of awe.

Blinking, he looked up and saw they had entered a stand of peach trees. Light, pink blossoms were falling slowly to the ground like snowflakes on a calm day.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed, turning to him.

"Yeah," he whispered, stirred by the sight. When he finally looked down from the trees, he found that Belldandy had taken the picnic basket from him and was setting up lunch.

He put his hands in his jacket pockets and looked out at the river flowing nearby.

"Tea?" she asked him, pouring him a cup.

"Yeah, thanks," he said.

She held the cup out to him, and he sat down on the blanket she had laid out. He sipped at the beverage as she removed bentos from the basket.

He regarded her as she worked and suddenly asked, "What's it like being a goddess?" He felt a little guilty asking this question as a test. He had asked Sitri once, and the go... demoness... had regaled him with stories of having the power to remake the world. He was curious to see how Belldandy would answer.

The goddess paused and smiled. "It's a life of service," she said. "A goddess is an extension of the Almighty One's will. I get to be a part of that every time I grant a wish."

"Ah," he said with a nod.

"Ah."

"Yeah, 'ah,'" he said.

"No, I mean 'ahhh,'" she prompted, holding a bento and a pair of chopsticks.

"Huh?" he asked.

She smiled and lifted a rice ball to his mouth.

As he chewed, she regarded him and asked a question in turn. "What is it like to be a mortal?" she asked.

The question threw him. "Well... um... I... I don't know," he said. "It just..."

She placed some onigiri in her mouth and chewed as he tried to answer.

"Well... why do you ask?" he countered weakly. "I mean... you're a goddess..."

"When I first arrived on Earth in search of you, I landed in your school," she explained. "It was just so... different... than the way things are here. Everyone was scurrying about with their own path, each with their own emotions and destiny and each unique to them."

"Oh... well..." He struggled to find a way to describe it. "Well... that's life," he said. "When you're little, you come up with a dream and then you spend your life searching for it..."

"So you have a dream?" she asked, adjusting herself to better face him.

"Yeah," he said with a nod.

"What is it?" she asked. "Or is such a thing private?"

"No! It's just... It's stupid," he said, taking the bento from her and moving some noodles around it with his chopsticks.

"I can't believe that," she said. "You mustn't really think that if it's your dream."

He bit his lip and nodded. "Okay," he said, relenting. "I want to build my own bike."

"Your own bike?"

"Yeah," he went on. "I want to build a bike that's fast, fun to ride, comfortable... A lot of people want either rice rockets or big Harleys or..." He broke off and blushed. "And this might mean something if you had any interest in motorcycles..."

"It's wonderful!" she said. "You want to create something! It doesn't matter what it is! The very act of creation is beautiful!"

"You think so?" he asked.

"Hai!" she replied, more excited about his dream than he was.

"Oh," he said, feeling stupid. "Well... what about you?"

"Me?" she asked, genuinely puzzled by the interest.

"Yeah, I mean you must have a dream too," he said before stuffing some noodles into his mouth.

She closed her eyes and smiled. "I want to make someone happy," she said.

He blinked, confused. "Don't you do that now?" he asked. "I mean... you grant wishes, right? Doesn't that make people happy?"

"It's not the same thing," she said. "It's the Almighty who grants wishes. I'm merely the interface between Him and the wisher. I want someone to be happy because of me, because of the things I do."

"I think you probably already do that," he said seriously. "It's a nice dream."

She looked at him with concern and care. "I would make you happy, if I could," she said seriously. He looked at her and blinked as she went on. "I know your heart is wounded," she said. "If I could take that pain away, I would."

"I know," he said softly. He sipped at his tea. "It's just one of those things that'll take time."

"Hai," she said sadly.

"I just..." He bit his lip and clenched his fist in impotent anger. "I just want to know why me! I mean is this something demons do a lot?! Do they just grab random college students and screw with their feelings for fun?"

Belldandy looked down at her lap. "No," she admitted. "I don't know why they've chosen to do this to you."

"Oracle san knows," he growled. "I can tell. She just doesn't want to come out and tell me."

The Norn looked away, painfully aware that her entire purpose for taking him out today was to take his mind off his troubles, and now here he was dwelling on them.

"Nothing can be done about that now," she told him. "Oracle san cannot be made to give up her secrets."

"Maybe... maybe not," he muttered.

"There are some things in life, Keiichi sama, that cannot be explained or accounted for," she said. "Some things simply are... and must be endured. And we can only take what strength we can from the experience. One always finds their true path on the far side of suffering."

"Maybe," he said again. "But if I don't know why I'm suffering, what's the point?"

The goddess stood up and walked to the water's edge. As the mortal watched, the goddess gracefully stepped out onto the water, standing on top of the river, her bare feet hardly making a ripple in the surface. She held her arms up, as if she were walking across a balance beam and turned to him.

"Why don't I fall?" she asked him.

He shook his head, spellbound by the sight. "I don't know..."

She smiled. "And now what is more important? Discovering why I do not fall, or..." She pirouetted and curtsied to him. "...making do with what is?"

He cleared his throat and saw her smile intensify, and the mortal boy wondered, not for the first time, how things might have been different if he had met Belldandy before Sitri.

888

Urd pushed the front door open and stepped inside the shattered remains of the house. From the outside, it was as if nothing had happened. Inside, however, the evidence of the battle between her demonic sister and the Valkyries was made obvious by missing walls, burnt holes in those that remained, dead crows and bats rotting on the floor near shards of broken glass.

A war had been fought here, a war Belldandy had barely escaped.

And that is what brought Urd here.

She didn't trust Sitri, but she knew if there was anyone with a chance of getting through to the demon, of coming to some sort of deal, it was Urd. And if not, she might be the only goddess with enough raw power to match Sitri. For Belldandy's sake, she had to try.

The goddess paused as she heard music float in from the next room. Moving quietly toward the living room, she pushed aside the tattered remains of a shoji door and found Sitri sitting on a burnt love seat, a small, portable CD player sitting nearby playing a Johnny Cash song about the end of the world.

"I love this little ditty," Sitri said, sensing her presence. She turned and smiled at the goddess. "I've longed to meet you, Oneesama. I always wanted a big sister. It's a pity that we must meet like this."

"You mentioned a deal," Urd said.

"I wanted to give you the opportunity to state your case," Sitri said. "To give me a good reason _not_ to... punish... that other goddess with whom you claim relation." She looked down at the CD player as the Johnny Cash song ended and the haunting piano chords of Gary Jules' rendition of "Mad World" began to play. "You have until the end of this song," Sitri told her.

"I didn't come here to beg," Urd told her.

_...bright and early for the daily races,_

_Going nowhere, going nowhere..._

"Then bargain," Sitri told her. "What do I get out of this?"

"Heaven's good will," Urd told her.

_...no expression, no expression,_

_Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow,_

_No tomorrow, no tomorrow..._

"Heaven's good will will not keep me warm at night," Sitri muttered.

"Neither will Keiichi Morisato," Urd told her. "Not anymore."

_...the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had,_

_I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take,_

_When people run in circles, it's a very very mad world..._

"We'll see," the demoness told her with a dark smile. "I have faith in him."

"Your relationship is based on a lie," Urd bit out. "Surely you can see that."

"What I see is yet another goddess trying to prevent me from fulfilling my destiny with Keiichi san," Sitri growled.

_...When I feel the way that every child should,_

_sit and listen, sit and listen..._

"You've failed," Sitri told her. "I will find him. I will bring him home to me. And I will avenge myself upon Belldandy."

"What's the real game here?" Urd asked. "What does Hild want with him anyway?"

_...hello, teacher, tell me what's my lesson?_

_Look right through me, look right through me..._

"I could tell you, but we're about out of time," Sitri said. "Another time perhaps."

"You think I'm just going to turn and go?" Urd asked incredulously. "If we're not ending with a deal, we're ending this the old fashioned demon way."

_... When people run in circles, it's a very very... mad world..._

Sitri smiled. "Oh, you're not leaving. It's just that the next track is coming on."

._.. Mad world..._

The song ended, and too late Urd covered her ears as a particularly awful Enka song blasted from the CD player. Sitri watched with a smile as the Norn sleepily fell to her knees.

"You like it?" the demoness asked. "It's my own mix tape. I don't think you should have to stick to themes, I prefer to truly mix it up, keep people guessing."

Urd tried vainly to shake the sleep from her mind as the offending music found its way between her fingers and into her ears. Her eyelids felt like they weighed eight tons.

As her vision blurred, she saw Sitri stand up and approach her.

"Poor, poor Oneesama," Sitri cooed, kneeling next to her. "So, so sleepy..."

It took a Herculean effort to keep her eyes open. She focused those blurred, green orbs on the smiling demoness above her.

"Rock-a-bye neesan... in the tree top..." Sitri sang. "When the song plays, her heart will stop... When her eyes close, we can move on..."

Unable to maintain her strength, Urd's hands fell away from her ears and her eyes slowly shut as Sitri finished her twisted version of the nursery rhyme.

"...and down will come Belldandy... Keiichi... and all..."

888

Aurora adjusted her pink robe before pouring herself a cup of cocoa. She had an early day tomorrow, like every day, but a bedtime cup of cocoa was something of a tradition for her, and she was happy to find a stock of dark chocolate delight in her sisters' cupboard.

"Turning in?"

She looked up and found Oracle entering the kitchen. Aurora smiled as her big sister leaned against the counter next to her. "It's not a job I can be late for, you know."

"Thank you for everything you've done, Aurora," Oracle said. "I know you don't believe me, but I truly do appreciate it."

The Dawn shrugged. "I know it's tough for you," she said. "With River's job _and_ yours..."

"Um... excuse me?"

They turned and found Keiichi standing at the door to the kitchen.

Oracle brightened. "Morisato san! How was your date with Belldandy?"

"I wanted to ask you ab..." The boy suddenly flinched as Oracle's words hit him. "'Date?' Um... It wasn't a... It wasn't a 'date...'"

The blonde goddess smiled. "Did you kiss her?"

"No!"

Oracle's face scrunched up. "Did she feed you?"

"Well... yeah..."

"Close enough!" Oracle declared, her smile returning in full force.

"Jeez, live vicariously through other people much?" Aurora asked, rolling her eyes.

Keiichi held a hand up and tried to regain control of the conversation. "Oracle san," he said quickly. "I need to know... please..."

"Know what, Morisato san?" she asked.

"Why do the demons want me?" he asked. "What did I do? What is it about me?"

The blonde's face scrunched up in irritation again. "Morisato san..."

"I know you know something," he said, his tone bordering on accusatory but stayed closer to pleading. He shook his head. "I'm trapped up here! My sister is practically on the run! And I have no idea _why_!"

"Jeez, Oracle! Just tell him!" Aurora chastised her sister.

"Aurora..." Oracle warned.

"You know his life story, past, present and future!" Aurora went on, ignoring the warning. "You helped Destiny write it, didn't you?! Just te..."

"Aurora!" Oracle snapped at her sister. "You are my dear, precious sister, and I love you! But so help me if you open your mouth again I will slap it off your face!"

The Dawn folded her arms over her chest and glared at her sister.

Shamed by her outburst, Oracle swallowed and looked to the floor. "I cannot tell you, Morisato san. A script writer is forbidden from revealing the destiny of one she authors for."

"Fine, I'll tell him!" Aurora declared, stepping forward. "Keiichi, you and..."

Keiichi blinked in amazement as Aurora's mouth continued moving, but no sounds emerged. The goddess seemed unaware of her silence and continued speaking and gesturing as if she was passing some incredible news to the boy.

Oracle rubbed her temples. "Aurora..."

The Dawn ignored her and continued "speaking," punctuating her story at points by silently gesturing grandly.

"Aurora..."

The unknowingly silent goddess held up three fingers accompanied by an expression of utter disbelief.

"Aurora!"

"What?!" Aurora finally asked out loud.

"You're not saying anything," Oracle told her with a sigh.

"What?"

"Your mouth is moving, but nothing's coming out!" Oracle explained. "When you agreed to assist me in this case, you fell under the auspices of the Writers Guild, which means speaking to either Morisato san or Belldandy san on either of their destinies constitutes a Forbidden Topic!"

Aurora looked at her sister in wrathful disbelief. "Oh... that is so... SUPER WEAK!"

"Did you think I was just being a priss by not telling them?!" Oracle demanded. "I want to help them! I truly do! That's why I'm doing all this!"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Keiichi demanded, getting lost again. "'Them?' Who's 'them?' Me and _Belldandy san_?!"

Oracle sighed.

"I know, I know..." Keiichi sighed. "You can't tell me."

"River can."

They both looked up at Aurora.

"What?" Oracle asked.

Aurora shrugged. "River can, right?" She faced Oracle. "She restored your linear memories, right? She could do the same for Keiichi. There's enough information about why this is happening in the memories of the other timeline to answer his questions without actually telling him about his future, right?"

"Aurora, no!" Oracle hissed.

"Woah! Wait!" Keiichi said. "Other timeline?"

"Long story," Aurora said. "The short version is that thanks to Belldandy and her sisters playing with the time stream, you and everyone else in the world lost three years of their lives."

"My head hurts," the mortal said, rubbing his temples.

Oracle took a breath. "Without getting into specifics, I can tell you that Aurora is right." She looked at him. "You've lived through this date and time before, but not here and not like this. Three years from now, there was an... incident... and time had to be reset to a safe point. When that happened, all the memories you... and everyone else in Creation... had were erased."

Keiichi's lips curled as his bullshit detector went off. "Then... how do _you_ know?"

Oracle pursed her lips as she prepared to explain more, getting deeper and deeper into the hole she was digging. "There are three entities who are unaffected by changes in timestreams," she said. "The Almighty, obviously, as it _is_ His universe. His counterpart in the Demon Realm, Hild...."

"So this Hild person would remember me?!" Keiichi demanded. Finally, some semblance of sense!

Oracle wasn't permitted to confirm or deny, so she continued on. "The third is River. It is her job to narrate the universe, so she is unaffected and retains those memories."

"And she can give those memories back the way she returned yours!" Aurora told her.

"Yeah!" Keiichi said suddenly, pointing at both of them. "That! We can do the memory return thing! I can figure stuff out on my own from there!"

"It's not the same, Morisato san," Oracle told him sympathetically.

"She did it for you, right?!"

"Yes, but I'm a goddess," she said. "It's easy for us to absorb that much information in such a short time." She paused and took his hands in hers. "For a mortal, it's very, very dangerous... and very, very painful..."

Keiichi thought about it, but only for a moment. "I don't care. I need to know."

"Morisato san..."

"My life is being twisted away from me!" he told her. "If I'm going to find out why, I need what River knows."

Oracle took a resigned breath and nodded. "Very well," she whispered. "Follow me."

Keiichi and Aurora followed Oracle into the sitting room where River was seated, looking out the window as she rapidly narrated the world's story. Outside, rain pelted the glass of the window, beating a steady tattoo against the silence of the dimly-lit room.

"River," Oracle began, kneeling before her sister. "Morisato san would like his linear memories of the other timeline," she explained. "I... I explained the dangers to him, and he wishes to go on regardless."

River said nothing, her lips moving impossibly fast. Keiichi wondered if somewhere in that speeding gibberish she was actually speaking to them.

Finally, after what must have been several moments of considering the request, River beckoned Keiichi to come forward. Oracle moved aside and told him to kneel before the older goddess.

"So," he breathed nervously. "How does this work?"

"Look her in the eye," Oracle explained. "Then touch her face."

"Then what?" he asked quietly.

Oracle swallowed. "Then... brace yourself."

Keiichi bit his lip and looked into the goddess's eyes, raising his hand tentatively as if he were about to touch a live wire and knew it. Finally, gathering what courage he could, he quickly reached out and touched River's cheek.

For a moment, it seemed to him that her lips slowed and she spoke directly to him.

"_Keiichi Morisato..._"

Then, suddenly, it was as if someone hit him in the forehead with a sledgehammer. He gave a gasp of shock and fell backwards onto his butt. Swallowing, his hands went to his head as he felt... something... pressing into his mind. It was like trying to stop an avalanche with his bare hands.

His mouth opened and he let out a pain-filled gasp... then a cry...

Oracle and Aurora were already lifting him by the arms when he started screaming, tears of intense agony running down his face.

"Up to my room," Oracle ordered.

The two goddesses pulled/carried the mortal boy up the stairs as he continued wailing in torment, his screams echoing against the marble and spreading throughout the house. Within the gibberish he screamed were pleas for help, to make the pain stop, that he had changed his mind, but it was too late. Oracle knew that all he could do now was endure and hope.

As the screams began to fade from distance and doors closing between them, River returned to narrating.

The world went on.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	6. Twisted Sister

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 6**

**Twisted Sister**

Belldandy checked herself in the mirror for the fourth time and for the fourth time changed her hair, this time putting it up in an intricate pattern that allowed one braid to come down and hang over her right shoulder.

The goddess, by her very nature, wasn't a particularly vain person. She believed that one's inner beauty shined through to others, but this morning, for some reason, she just wanted her hair to look more than pretty... closer to perfect would be best...

_You should just admit it to yourself,_ she thought. _You want to look good for HIM._

There was something to that, she supposed. Oracle's words to her yesterday morning stuck with her. She wanted Keiichi sama to feel special, and if the goddess could do that by putting some effort into her appearance, she was more than willing to do that...

Standing in the bathroom door, Skuld watched her older sister in puzzlement. When she had come home from work yesterday, her sister had not yet returned from the business she had at the Styx, which meant Skuld had to heat up her own dinner. Then when, after two hours, the middle Norn had finally returned, she had been in the best mood of her life. Skuld had never seen her sister so happy, to the point where she didn't even seem to notice the chores Skuld had left incomplete.

She now stood there, watching her sister adjust her hair again while humming happily at the mirror. Urd hadn't come home last night either, but Belldandy didn't remark on it more than to say the half-demon was doing something on Earth this week.

Something was definitely up.

Before she left, Urd had mentioned a mortal boy. Could he be the cause of this? She had never seen her sister crush on a boy before. It was possible, she supposed...

"Oneesama?" she gently interjected. "Um... Are you going to Oracle's again today?"

"Hai!" Belldandy replied, pulling her hair down again without giving her sister as much as a glance.

"To see that mortal boy, right?" Skuld probed.

"Hai!"

"So... should I order out for dinner tonight?"

This seemed to shake Belldandy away from the mirror, and the goddess turned to her sister as if she suddenly realized something. "Oh! Oh, Skuld! I'm sorry I didn't cook last night! I was... I was busy..."

Skuld smiled but without much feeling. She wasn't sure how she felt about her big sister suddenly being too "busy" to spend time with her. "That's okay, Oneesama. I know you've got a lot to do..."

Belldandy approached and hugged her. "Hai." Her head snapped up as a wonderful idea occurred to her. "You should come to Oracle's tonight and eat with us!" she declared. "I'll double check with Oracle to make sure it's all right, but I would love to introduce you to Keiichi sama! He's such a nice boy, and he's interested in engineering! I'm sure you'd get along wonderfully!"

"Yeah," Skuld muttered. "I'm sure." She arched an eyebrow as Belldandy went back to working on her hair. "You... You really like this boy, don't you?"

"Hai! He is a very kind person."

"No, I mean... like-like..."

"Like-like what?" Belldandy asked, puzzled by the wordplay.

"Hold on a sec," Skuld sighed, leaving the bathroom. Belldandy looked at herself in the mirror again and smiled. Yes, the braid was beautiful. She would stick with that.

A moment later, Skuld returned holding a paperback book she had pilfered from Urd's room. "I mean, do you like him like this?" She held up the trashy romance so Belldandy could see the picture on the cover, an image of a knight on a white horse kissing a woman sitting side-saddle in front of him.

Belldandy froze dead in her tracks, her eyes wide. She felt a warm heat rise up through her chest, into her neck and suffuse her cheeks.

"Eep?" she finally squeaked out.

"Well?" Skuld asked.

Belldandy didn't hear her. Her mind was working overtime with thoughts of being trapped in the gaze of Keiichi Morisato's soft, brown eyes, of being unable to avert her eyes as he moved closer and brushed his lips against hers, finally prompting her eyes to close and...

"Oneesama!"

"EH?!" Belldandy replied quickly as if her little sister had just caught her making out with a boy... as opposed to _fantasizing_ about making out with a boy.

Skuld gave her a reproachful glare. "So you do like-like him!"

Belldandy looked down at her feet as if in shame, though if Urd could see her now she'd probably smack the goddess on the back of the head for feeling that way.

The younger goddess took a breath. On one hand, she didn't want to irritate her big sister by lecturing Belldandy the way Urd lectured the raven haired girl. On the other, how could this mortal boy possibly be worthy of Oneesama?

She almost screwed it up. Skuld was actually opening her mouth to ask this question and suddenly shut it as the question itself ran through her mind again. She smiled.

Belldandy blinked at her. "Skuld?"

"Nothing," Skuld said with a smile. It was a perfect, beautiful thing, not having to fight at all. The boy was a mortal, which meant he couldn't stay here forever. Eventually he was going to go back to Earth. When he did, Belldandy was going to go back to work at the Help Line and never see him again. So where was the harm in pretending that it didn't bother her?

"I'd actually really like to meet him," Skuld said with a grin.

Hearing this made Belldandy's day. She smiled brightly and clapped her hands. "Oh, wonderful! I know you'll just love him!"

"Yes, I'm sure I will," Skuld said, adding under her breath, "...especially when he leaves."

888

"Coffee?"

Urd blinked her eyes open as she heard the question and couldn't shut them in time as a splash of the burning liquid in question struck her face. She instinctively tried to raise her hands to protect her face, but found they were trapped at her side. Looking down, she saw she was encased in a large red crystal with only her head sticking out and able to move.

Sitri stood not far away, a grim smile on her face. The demoness turned and put the empty coffee cup on a small table nearby.

They weren't in Sitri's house anymore. That much Urd was sure of. For one thing, there was some kind of canal six feet wide running to the goddess's right and the entire cavernous room was lit up in dull hues of red and pink. Squinting, the Norn could make out a fake starscape on the walls and ceiling. It suddenly hit her that she was inside a carnival ride, a Tunnel of Love.

"Couldn't stay at the house," Sitri told her as she typed on a holotop computer. "Too many people know about it. It's the first place they'd search for you."

"Wow," Urd remarked, honestly impressed. "You know, when Aurora said it, I just assumed it was because she was tired and angry... but you really are bat-shit crazy."

Sitri's face was an inch from hers a moment later. "Crazy?!" she demanded. "Is it crazy to love someone?! To care so much for them that you'd be willing to upend the universe itself?! To want to make someone happy so much that you would be willing to bring down the wrath of both Heaven _and_ Hell upon you?! Well!" Sitri said in summation, "If kidnapping your half sister, encasing her in a giant crystal and hiding in an abandoned carnival makes you crazy, then sign me up for chlorpromazine, sister!"

Urd gawked. It wasn't even a joke anymore. This demon was insane.

Sitri returned to her holotop and continued to work.

"So," Urd said in a tone that said she was just making conversation. "What's your next move? Put a dead cat in Belldandy's mailbox? Talk about her behind her back? What exactly is your brilliant plan?"

"You are going to get my Keiichi back for me," Sitri said with a smile. "Which is very kind of my loving big sister to do."

"Yeah, I'm sister of the year over here," she muttered. "And how exactly am I supposed to help you get Keiichi back while I'm stuck in this crystal?"

Sitri smiled and approached her, holding a digital audio recorder in her hand. "Well... first I need you to record a little message to your sister. Nothing special, just a quick 'Hi, Sis! How are you? I'm fine! Wish you were here!' That kind of thing."

She held the recorder up to Urd's lips with one hand and reached out to Urd's temple with her other, channeling a bolt of black electricity into the goddess's head.

Urd screamed in agony into the recorder's microphone! Sitri pulled away from her a moment later and hit the stop button as Urd's head lolled forward, gasping in pain.

The goddess heard her own scream played back and lifted her head to find Sitri nodding appreciatively at the sound.

"This is some nice voice work," she complimented. "You could do this for a living."

"What do you want?" Urd gasped out painfully.

Sitri plugged the recorder into her computer and went to work. "I want what every young woman wants, Oneesama. I want to love and be loved." She smiled at Urd. "You see, Mother never gave me the choice she gave you. I guess she was afraid of losing another daughter. So she kept me all but locked up in my palace in the Eighth Circle, unwilling to let me spread my wings and fly. She only let me out to play on special occasions when she was in need of someone with a sense of 'moral ambiguity.'" She sighed. "As you can imagine, opportunities to find love were nowhere to be found."

"Try MySpace," Urd muttered bitterly.

Sitri ignored her. "I trained, developed my powers, and learned the subtle arts of manipulation." She turned to Urd suddenly. "Did you know your father, Oneesama?"

The Norn cleared her throat and nodded, the pain in her head still hammering against her skull.

"I never knew him," Sitri sighed. "He lives in another realm. I had to have faith in Mother that she would reveal her wisdom to me eventually. Then, as if to reward me for my patience, she gave me this special mission." She smiled at Urd. "To take Keiichi Morisato as my lover, to deny him to Belldandy and take his soul for Mother's pleasure."

"How romantic," Urd growled.

Sitri typed. "I must admit, I didn't expect to feel anything for Keiichi san at first. By this time, seduction was something I was trained for, a job. It was work. But that boy..." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Oh, that boy... He has this way of making you feel..." She closed her eyes and took a long deep breath.

Urd watched and swallowed nervously.

The computer beeped. "Well, that should do it. I just need to finalize a few details and then we can send our little letter to Belldandy." She stood up and approached Urd, reaching out and taking a perverse pleasure in watching the Norn flinch. All she did, however, was pinch Urd's cheek. "You get some sleep, Oneesama. I'll be back later."

Urd watched helplessly as Sitri walked down the tunnel and out of the ride.

888

Belldandy blinked at the oak door in puzzlement. She had knocked, but no one answered. Perhaps they were in the back and couldn't hear her. She knocked again, a little louder this time.

Waiting patiently, she turned her mind back to coming up with something to do with Keiichi sama today. The picnic was a success in her eyes, though they tended to talk about his current problems more than take his mind off them. She felt it would help him heal, and she very much wanted to help him heal.

It broke her heart to see him in pain, particularly a pain that she couldn't just use her powers to heal. His heart had been cut deeply, and she would give anything to mend it. Perhaps Skuld was right, just not in the way she thought. Perhaps she "like-liked" Keiichi sama because she wanted to make him happy and saw a way to do so by caring for him.

Still no answer.

_They're probably on the deck, looking at the river,_ she thought. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she turned it and pushed the door open, quietly stepping inside as if she were breaking and entering.

No one was there, and the house seemed dimmer than it should, as if no one cared to turn on the lights that morning. It was a little creepy. She had told both Keiichi sama and Oracle san that she would return this morning.

The door that led from the vestibule to the main hall was ahead, and she could hear... something... on the other side, a constant noise that went up and down but never tapered off. Pushing the thick door open, the noise made itself horrifyingly apparent.

Someone, a man, was screaming. And as far as she knew, there was only one man in this house.

"Keiichi sama!" she cried, flying up the stairs toward the source of the noise as the frightening possibilities gripped her mind.

_Sitri! _she thought. _She must have found a way to sneak into Heaven! Found Keiichi san! Now she's torturing him for leaving!_

She came to the door of Oracle's bedroom, and the sound was clearer now. Definitely screams of pain rather than surprise or panic, interspersed with some kind of gibberish. She tried the knob but found it locked. Stepping back, she gathered the powers of the wind into her hands.

"_Tempestuous spirits of the wind, remove the barrier before me and save Keiichi sama!"_ she cried, letting the tempest in the teapot loose.

The door flew off its hinges, and Belldandy rushed inside, prepared to do battle with Sitri, even knowing the odds.

But there was no demon there to meet her. Her eyes went to Oracle's bed and found Keiichi thrashing on top of the sheets, holding his head and crying out in agony.

"Keiichi sama!" she cried, rushing toward him. "What is it?! What's happened!?"

The mortal boy's eyes were wild, looking about quickly at everything yet seeing nothing but what was in his own head. A sheen of sweat coated his forehead.

"Belldandy?!" he cried. "Belldandy!?"

"Hai! It's me! It's me!" she replied, but she got the impression that he wasn't really speaking to her.

"The Lord of Terror," he gasped out. "The Lord of Terror is Urd, but... but don't break the pot! It's Urd... It's Fenrir... It's... It's me... Don't listen to me! Don't..." He swallowed and thrashed his head from side to side. "It's not me! Don't listen! Don't give me the flute! Don't... Don't..." His mouth opened and no sound emerged for a moment, then a painful wail erupted from deep within the boy.

"Keiichi sama!" Belldandy cried, grabbing the boy by his shoulders to steady him. Tears ran down her face. "What... What do you mean?! What's happening to you?!"

"He's remembering."

Belldandy's head whipped around and found Oracle sitting in her chair, knitting.

"Oracle san!" Belldandy gasped. "What... What happened?! _What did you do to him?!_"

The blonde looked up from her knitting and shook her head wearily. "I warned him, but he would not listen. He insisted on having River restore his memories, the ones from the other timeline."

"What other timeline? What do you mean?!"

Oracle gave her an almost cold stare. "The timeline you and your sisters reset," she said.

"Peorth!" Keiichi suddenly babbled. "Christ, woman, would you just leave me alone! No, I don't want your wish..."

Belldandy stared at him. "Peorth san? How does he know Peorth san?"

"They've met," Oracle said. "Or... will meet... or should have met... It's really hard to talk about now..."

"Belldandy!" Keiichi cried suddenly. The goddess cried out in surprise as the boy suddenly sat up and took her by the arms, his eyes on her, but not seeing her. "Welsper!" he gasped suddenly. "Welsper! His name is Welsper! You have... You have to..." He fell back onto the bed, his eyes going wide as she screamed again.

"Stop it!" Belldandy demanded of Oracle. "Make it stop! Help him!"

"There is nothing that can be done now," Oracle told her, looking down at her lap and continuing her knitting. "The only way his mind can absorb the new memories is for him to live through them, which he is doing. Either he will be able to do this until the old memories catch up with the new ones or... he will be dead."

888

Urd's eyes fluttered open, and the Norn gave a gasp and a start when she found purple eyes staring right back into her own.

Sitri stared at her, standing only a foot from the crystal.

"What?" Urd gasped out. "What is it?! What do you want?!"

"The resemblance," Sitri muttered, turning her head and stroking at the purple line in her hair with her fingers. "It's remarkable, isn't it? How we both took after Mother?"

"Why not?" Urd grunted. "She carried us. I imagine she had more of a say about what we looked like than our fathers did."

"Maybe," Sitri muttered, still staring at Urd. "Do you think Heaven would accept me?"

"What?" Urd gasped out incredulously.

"Heaven," Sitri repeated softly as she reached out and touched Urd's hair. "They accepted you. Do you think they'd accept me?"

An alarm went off in Urd's head, not at the insanity in Sitri's voice, but because of the lack of it. This could be a trap... or it could be a moment of clarity in her sister's mind that she could use to her advantage.

"They might," Urd lied, knowing that Heaven would never take a full demon. They had been reluctant enough to accept Urd, and her father was a god.

"What would I have to do?" Sitri asked her. "To be like you... Oneesama?"

Urd's eyes went wide at the question. It was familiar, eerily familiar. She had once spoken those same words to Belldandy as a child. Back then she had craved acceptance too, and Belldandy had given it freely.

Could that really be what Sitri wanted deep down? For someone to simply accept her?

"You have to renounce the evil in your heart," Urd quoted Belldandy. "Put it aside and accept the goodness that remains there. Give it wings and let it fly."

A tear formed in the demon's eye. "Then... Then I can be like you? I can be a goddess too?"

"We can try," Urd told her.

"Oh, Oneesama!" Sitri cried, wiping a tear away. "You must think horribly of me! How can a creature like me ever find redemption!?"

"You can do it," Urd said. "I can help you."

"You can?!" Sitri asked, sniffling. "You can help me... get into Heaven?"

Urd opened her mouth to reply, to tell her that she would, that together they'd put Sitri's heart at peace, but something stopped her. The look in Sitri's eyes, the same look Urd had seen in her own when she saw them reflected in the eyes of a god or goddess she was...

"Oh, you're good," Urd breathed, not believing she could be so easily duped.

Sitri's expression turned cold. "Not good enough, it would seem," she said, turning away from Urd. "I admit, a goddess vouching for me would get me into Heaven and closer to my target, but Plan A is still sound."

"I can't believe I almost fell for that," Urd said in self-reproach.

Sitri listened to her sister complain as she gently pulled the bandage off her arm and studied the burn there.

"Belldandy got you pretty good, huh?" Urd half-taunted.

"Belldandy got lucky," Sitri bit back. She looked up at her half-sister and stepped toward her. "Belldandy wears a ring on her left hand," she said. "A diamond." She leaned in and caressed Urd's hair. "Where did she get it?"

"I don't know what you're..."

She was cut off as Sitri grabbed a fistful of the Norn's hair and pulled savagely. "Who gave it to her?! She has a boyfriend, doesn't she?! An old lover!? Someone I can leverage against her!?"

Urd grit her teeth against the pain and spat back. "How do you know she didn't get it from a Dollar General?!"

The look in her eyes made Urd swallow in fear. "Because only love _burns_, Oneesama! Maybe she didn't love the giver, but the giver _definitely_ loved the receiver! Tell me who he is! Where I can find him!" Her tone turned gentle. "And I will let him stand in your place."

"My sister lives like a nun," Urd hissed.

Sitri pulled her hair again. "There's a word for a woman who would steal a man from the tender arms of his lover!" she cried. "A whore! Belldandy is a whore! A whore long overdue for a lesson in the proper etiquette surrounding romantic rivalry!"

She released the Norn's hair and turned from her. "I had hoped, Oneesama, that you would understand. You're a love goddess, after all." She turned back to Urd and smiled. "All is fair in love and war. This can be both."

888

She held him tightly as he screamed again, squeezing him hard from behind to keep him from thrashing.

"It's okay," she whispered into his ear as he fought. "It's okay. Shhhhhh. It's okay..."

"Dr. Morrow!" Keiichi gasped out painfully. "Tell Sigel to watch out for Dr. Morrow! Dr. Morrow... He wants legs! Tell Sigel... Tell her..."

She shushed him again and stroked his hair. "I don't know what you mean," she whimpered in defeat. "It doesn't mean anything to me! I don't understand!"

Keiichi continued to babble incoherently, and Belldandy tried her best to wrap her mind around the things he was saying, things that didn't make any sense, things that were illogical on their face, things that...

... well... you probably would have had to have been there.

"I want to understand," she whispered and she held him tightly. "Why did you do this to yourself? Was it really that important?"

He started thrashing again, and the Norn adjusted her grip to keep him from throwing himself to the floor or hurting himself. Her eyes closed painfully.

Oracle watched the scene, touching as it was, and wondered how far she should try pushing Belldandy.

"It was important to him," she told the Norn. "And at one point, it was important to you."

"It's just gibberish," Belldandy whispered as Keiichi thrashed in her arms again before screaming.

"Please tell me what happened," Belldandy begged. "You say I did this somehow..."

Before Oracle could answer, Keiichi babbled again.

"Megumi needs a ride to class... Have to finish that western breakfast another time... Ask her to make it again...." His head lolled from side to side. "Something... Something in the road! Shit! Turn! TRUCK! MEGUMI!" Suddenly, his back arched and he started screaming in agony. As loud as he had been the last several hours, Belldandy had never heard him... or anyone for that matter... scream as loudly as he did now.

"What is it!?" she cried as she tried to push him down on the bed to keep him from hurting himself. "What's happening?!"

Oracle regarded him and sighed, knowing perfectly well what was happening. "He's reliving his death."

"WHAT?!" Belldandy cried out in panic.

"Yes," Oracle said softly, somehow still audible over Keiichi's screams. "He's reliving the memory of his death. It would appear... that it was not a quick or painless one."

Keiichi's screaming started to falter as the boy lost breath, his cries devolving into the panicked words of a man who knew he was dying.

"BELLDANDY!" he screamed. "BELLDANDY, I LOVE YOU! I DON'T WANT TO GO! I DON'T WANT TO GO! BELLDANDY!" The words devolved again into pitiful weeping.

The Norn stared down at him, shocked to the core by his words. Suddenly, he arched his back again, nearly throwing the goddess off of him. He gave a long breath and collapsed on the bed, his eyes closed.

Belldandy's breath caught in her throat as she thought the worst had occurred. "Keiichi sama?!" she breathed. She shook his shoulders. "Keiichi sama!? KEIICHI SAMA!"

The boy's eyes snapped open and he nearly choked as he gobbled for breath. Surprised again, Belldandy leaned back. Keiichi coughed and laid on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Keiichi sama?" she asked tentatively.

"... a goddess like you to always be by my side..." he whispered. Belldandy blinked as he began speaking more gibberish.

"Did... Did he start over?" she asked.

Oracle shook her head. "This is the second timeline, the first attempt to alter destiny. It was not successful."

There was much more to what was going on, more that Oracle was, if not outright hiding, then definitely not being forthcoming about.

"I would not have reset time just to save him," she whispered. "I could not justify doing that to so many people." She looked up at Oracle. "Something else happened."

"Yes," Oracle told her.

"Something that this reset failed to resolve," Belldandy continued. "Something so awful that a second reset was necessary to prevent it from happening."

"It comes down to poor script-writing," Oracle told her. "One mis-penned phrase... caused all of this. I know it in my heart. It can be fixed, but we must first reestablish the right track."

"I bought her a ring."

Belldandy blinked and turned back to Keiichi. The boy was no longer screaming. He was staring up at the ceiling and speaking softly.

"A diamond ring," he said. "It's not much, but it's what I could afford."

_A ring?_ Belldandy thought. _A diamond ring?_ Her eyes fell on her left hand and the mysterious ring she didn't recognize, yet couldn't bring herself to stop wearing.

"I even got it engraved," Keiichi muttered painfully. "It says..."

"'For Belldandy,'" Belldandy whispered as Keiichi himself said the words.

"...I wanted it to say 'For Belldandy, Love Keiichi,' but I ran out of money and... Yeah, I guess I wussed out. I know what I want it to say... I just... I just don't know how she'll react. I'm going to give it to her at the Christmas party... If I can just get her alone..."

Belldandy gazed at the ring as tears came to her eyes. It was pure insanity. There was no way Keiichi sama could have given her this ring and yet, of all the possibilities, it was the sanest one. Somehow, the idea that a boy she had never met gave her a ring that traveled across time to find her made sense...

Perfect sense.

She swallowed back tears.

"He gave me this ring," she said, staring down at it. She looked up at Oracle and smiled. "Because he loved me. That's the proper track, isn't it? He wasn't supposed to love Sitri. He was supposed to meet... and love... me..."

Oracle smiled.

"Did... Did I love him?" Belldandy asked quietly.

"There's only one way to find out," Oracle told her.

888

Belldandy knelt in front of River so she was at eye-level with the other goddess. River continued narrating, seemingly oblivious to Belldandy's presence, but at the same time anything but. She sensed the Norn's intent and motioned her forward.

From one side, Oracle watched in anticipation. It was quite possible this would be the moment where Destiny would be righted. If they both remembered...

"What's up?"

She turned and found Aurora standing next to her.

"SHHHH!" Oracle quickly shushed before turning back to Belldandy and River.

Belldandy slowly reached out with both hands and gently touched River's cheeks, closing her eyes as the narrator of all things showed her the Norn's story thus far, that which she knew and that which she did not.

With Keiichi, the process was intense and painful. The memories were forced into his frail mind like someone filling a water balloon with a fire hose. For a goddess, the memories all entered at once, but once safely in her mind, they unfolded before her mind's eye, teasing her with more and more detail each passing moment. She saw people she knew and yet knew not, heard voices she recognized yet seemed strange, but the only words that seemed to matter came from either herself... or him.

"_I would like a goddess like you to always be by my side..."_

"_... I haven't been here just because of my contract, Keiichi..."_

"_... Of course, I really wish you'd only be sweet and kind to me... but not really... I don't know how to say it, but..."_

"_... because my feelings always reach him... they always do..."_

"_... You used your full power for me, didn't you?"_

"_... If it was just duty... it... it wouldn't hurt so much..."_

"_I'm here... because I love him..."_

888

Oracle and Aurora watched expectantly as the two goddesses stood unmoving before them.

"What's happening?" Aurora whispered to her sister.

The blonde goddess was biting her pinky nail. "Belldandy is getting her linear memories back," she whispered.

Aurora paused. "Is that a good thing?"

"Yeah."

They watched as nothing happened for several more minutes.

"Now what?" Aurora whispered.

"We wait."

"For how long?"

"As long as it takes!" Oracle whispered her retort. She watched and waited for another few moments. "The suspense is terrible.... I hope it lasts."

When Belldandy moved, it surprised the two sisters. She casually stood up and looked down at River.

Oracle and Aurora watched, surprised that there wasn't more of a reaction. Did River not restore her memories or did Belldandy just not care?

Before they could utter the question aloud, Belldandy turned and ran down the hall toward the stairs.

"Is this good or bad?" Aurora asked. "I really can't tell."

Oracle closed her eyes and smiled. "It's good."

888

Belldandy didn't even pause to wipe the tears from her eyes, she just ran. She could hear her footsteps on the marble staircase and the sound of her rapid breathing loud in her ears. Her eyes locked onto the door to Oracle's bedroom as she ran for it, her hand grabbing the doorframe as she rushed inside.

It was only then that she stopped, her eyes coming to rest on him. The mortal was rising, painfully pushing himself up, his breath hard and ragged.

He looked up and saw her. Swallowing, an unsure voice broke the silence.

"Belldandy?"

She bolted toward him, her feet feeling light enough for her to fly without her wings.

"Keiichi san!"

The goddess's body struck his so hard his breath left his chest in a gasp, and her arms were wrapped so tightly around him he couldn't get it back. Rather than try to break free, he wrapped his arms around the Norn and squeezed back as he felt her tears soak through his shirt into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" she wept. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want to go! Please believe me! I didn't want to!"

"I know," he said softly, closing his eyes as he held her. "Skuld told me. I know."

"I don't want to lose you again!" she cried. "I don't! I can't! I don't care what happens! I can't!"

He didn't try to fight back his own tears. He let them go. "I know," he said. "We'll find a way."

"Keiichi, I love you!"

"I love you, Belldandy," he said, sobbing like a baby now. "I love you."

Watching the embrace from the doorway and feeling not the least bit awful for it, Aurora and Oracle smiled and wiped their eyes.

Oracle spread her arms and closed her eyes before announcing in a subdued whisper, "And they all lived... happily ever after..."

Aurora cleared her throat and leaned in. "Except... you know... for the psycho demon out for his blood and heart..."

Oracle sighed. "... and the singularity that could still destroy Creation..." She chewed on her lip and thought for a moment. "Screw it, I don't care! They all lived happily ever after! I'll fix the rest in the epilogue."

888

Urd looked up as Sitri entered the tunnel of love and tossed two CDs on her desk before bending over the holotop and bringing up her email client. The Norn couldn't see them up close, but she knew in her heart those weren't the latest Oingo Boingo albums.

"Who's in there?" she asked, fearing the worst.

The demon looked over at her and grinned maliciously. "Who do you think?"

Urd's eyes locked on the two seals sitting near the demon's computer. "If you've harmed her," she hissed. "I swear to the Almighty and Hild both... for any harm you've done to Belldandy, I will revisit that harm ten-fold _on YOUR head!_"

"All this anger directed at me for something I may or may not have done to a goddess who isn't even _really _your sister."

"She's more my sister than a monster like you could ever be!" Urd spat. "Blood or no!"

"Why do you say such hurtful things?" Sitri asked, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm your loving sister! Your _real_ family!"

Urd glared hatefully at her.

"I see," Sitri said. "You require proof of my love." She picked one of the CDs up and removed it from its case.

"What are you doing?" Urd asked, her eyes going wide.

Sitri smiled and took the CD in both hands. Holding it up, she addressed Urd again. "You are my dear sister, and I love you. Just as I love Keiichi san. But you continue to reject my love. Perhaps if certain characters were out of the way..." Almost casually, she broke the CD in two with a loud SNAP!

Urd gasped and cried out in horror. "NO! STOP IT!" she screamed, already knowing it was too late for Bel... whoever was in that CD.

"Was that the right one?" Sitri asked. "Or was she in this one?" she asked, picking up the other CD.

The Norn struggled in her bonds, screaming between clenched teeth.

Sitri laughed girlishly. "Oh, Oneesama! Do relax! Do you really think I'd bother to _seal_ Belldandy at this point? These just happened to be a couple of demons who came a little too close..."

"Demons?" Urd whispered. Sitri flinched, realizing she had said a little too much. "You're off-mission," the Norn went on, amazed at the implication. "Hild is looking for you just like Heaven is!"

"It matters not," Sitri said casually, returning to her computer. "Soon Keiichi san will be back in my arms, and we'll be together... forever... If I must leave this realm with him, then so be it."

"You're insane," Urd uttered, knowing the words meant nothing to the demon. "In your crazy head, you think you're perfectly rational, but you're not."

Sitri listened, her cold eyes bearing down on the Norn as she went on.

"You're going to hurt whoever you have to to get that boy back... gods... demons... mortals... and you'll feel perfectly justified in it all," Urd went on quietly. "It won't matter to you. And when the time comes, when Heaven... or Hell... has you boxed in... You'll bring that boy down with you. You'll both die, and you won't even care. Because in that diseased head of yours... it's all in the name of love. You sick bitch..."

The demon was on her in a second! Before Urd knew it was happening, Sitri was hammering blows on her exposed face, the Norn powerless to stop it as the demon, spitting enraged gibberish, beat mercilessly on the goddess.

Finally, the demon's rage and bloodlust were sated, and Sitri stepped back, breathing hard as she regarded her work. Urd, bruised and bloodied, fought to remain conscious.

The demon squared her shoulders and looked at her sister regally. "I'm sorry that was necessary, Oneesama," she said casually. "But it's important for you to understand. This is the way it's _supposed_ to be. Destiny gave Belldandy her chance and _Destiny_ chose to take that chance away. Destiny chose for me to have him, and have him I shall. And not you... or Mother... or _Belldandy_... will take that from me."

Urd's head lolled from side to side. She said nothing.

"You... will _not_ write this ending," Sitri hissed. "Nor will our mother. I will write my own destiny! And the story shall end with Keiichi san and I walking into the future together, hand in hand!"

She stepped forward and took Urd's head in her hands, forcing the Norn to look at her. "I want you to be a part of our family, Oneesama. To be the sister I never had, to be the demoness I look up to." She squeezed, her face turning harsh as her nails bit into Urd's flesh. "But if you ever imply that I don't have Keiichi san's best interest at heart again.... I will rip your soul from your body and wear it like a mink coat."

Urd said nothing.

Sitri leaned forward and tenderly kissed her sister's head. "I love you." Turning, she walked back to her holotop, not giving the Norn another thought. Reaching out and taking the mouse in her hand, she hit the "SEND" button.

Leaning back, she smiled. "You'll be home soon... my Keiichi san."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: There's no song lyrics in this chapter, but the scene where Belldandy remembers Keiichi and runs upstairs to meet him was inspired by Yoko Ishida's "Wandering Through the Empty Age." She's the singer who did the AMG TV series opening and closings. This song is the only one I've heard of her doing in English._


	7. Second End

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG. "First End" was written by Yumi Touma.

**Second Dawn**

**Chapter 7**

**Second End**

Belldandy closed her eyes and just held him. There were going to be challenges ahead for them, and that was fine. She would deal with them later. Right now, she just wanted to hold him, feel his chest rise and fall with each breath, the warmth in his touch. She had been so sure she would never feel it again, and now that it was here, she delighted in its return.

Her eyes opened as she felt him slump against her and gravity's pull started to drag him to the floor.

"Keiichi san?" she whispered in alarm.

She knelt with him, supporting him as he dropped to his knees. He swallowed and looked up at her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's... It's been a long night..."

"Hai," she agreed, realizing he had been going through the painful process of remembering his past life for several hours unlike her almost pleasant few minutes. "You should rest."

"I don't want to," he said weakly, not even able to lift his head to face her anymore. "How do I know I'll wake up with my memories? I can't forget you again."

"You won't," she whispered with a smile. She put his arm over her shoulder and guided him to Oracle's bed. Slowly helping him into it, she tucked him in and pulled up a chair so she could sit with him.

He tried keeping his eyes open, but his head hurt and his body was weak from the mental pummeling it had taken all night. Exhaustion dragged him kicking and screaming into sleep as Belldandy watched over him.

She watched him sleep for several minutes, taking careful note of his face. Yes, it was the face she remembered, the true face of the young, upstart mortal who had dared wish the unthinkable and changed her life forever. Unable to stand it a moment longer, she rose from her chair and climbed onto the bed next to him, wrapping her arms around him and spooning in behind the boy.

The Norn felt a familiar twinge, unsure if such a thing was acceptable by his standards or her own.

_How many? _she asked herself irritably. _How many close calls must we have? How many times must I _almost_ lose him before I simply seize the moment?_

Phrased that way, it took her only a second to answer.

_Not ONE more time..._

She closed her eyes and squeezed him hard, as if she was afraid that if she let him go, he'd disappear into nothingness forever.

_Not one more time..._

888

Skuld stepped up to the front door and gawked at the architecture. Oracle's house was old and seemed to take great pride in looking it. She had decided to take her sister up on her offer and come to dinner. It was weird, though. She had expected Belldandy to call her and let her know what time to be there, but she hadn't. So once her day at the Yggdrasil Operations Center had ended, she came right over.

Reaching out, she knocked loudly on the door and waited.

Nothing.

She tapped her foot impatiently and started knocking again.

"Open! Open! Open!" she said with each knock.

Finally, the door did open, and a strange man she had never seen before stood there.

"Skuld!" he cried happily.

"Yeah, that's m..." Before she could finish, the boy reached out and hugged her.

"It's so good to see you!" the boy cried.

She roughly pushed him off her. "Get off me, perv!" she shouted. The boy hit the door with a loud THUMP just as Belldandy appeared in the hall behind him.

"Ah! I'm so glad you came!"

"Oneesama!" Skuld cried with tears in her eyes as she pointed at the boy. "This strange guy just grabbed me!"

Belldandy blinked. "Did he?"

"YES!" Skuld cried. She sniffled. "I was so scared..."

"Same old Skuld," Keiichi muttered as he rubbed his head where it had impacted the door.

"HE EVEN KNOWS MY NAME!" Skuld cried. "He's probably been stalking me for weeks! Oneesama!"

Belldandy smiled wanly. "Skuld, this is Keiichi san," she said, gesturing to the boy.

"Hey," Keiichi said with a short wave.

Skuld arched an eyebrow. "This... is the guy?" she asked, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. She hadn't been sure what to expect, but figured a guy that could get Belldandy all a-twitter had to be six-five, nothing but muscle, and good to a fault. Not a short, puny pervert with bushy eyebrows...

"Hai!" Belldandy answered happily.

Skuld waited for Belldandy to introduce her, but realized it wasn't necessary. The boy had known who she was the moment he opened the door. She found that odd... and rather disconcerting.

"So..." she said. "You're Keiichi..."

"Yeah, that's me," he said nervously. "And look... you don't realize it, and this is going to sound crazy... but... well... I owe you..."

"WE owe you..." Belldandy corrected him with a smile.

"...We owe you... a lot," Keiichi finished.

"Why?" Skuld asked suspiciously. "What happened? Did you sell me to gypsies or something?!"

Keiichi just smiled. "Skuld... thank you."

The young Norn stepped into the hall, careful not to turn her back on the strange mortal. "I'm... just... going to go... over here..." she said carefully before turning and running down the hall.

Keiichi sighed. "I think that's going to be the hardest thing," he told Belldandy quietly. "Re-introducing one another to people who no longer know us."

"It's sad in a way," she replied. "The people whose lives we touched over the years... All of it just... never happened." She looked at him sadly. "And because of Sitri's interference... much of it _won't_ happen again."

He stepped toward her and took her hand, prompting her to look up into his eyes.

"But _we_ remember," he said. "So now we know what to look for and what to avoid. Maybe... we can still touch those lives. And maybe, in some ways, we can do it better this time."

She smiled. "Maybe." Looking up at him, she changed the subject. "Dinner will be ready soon. We just have to..."

"Belldandy," he interrupted.

"Hai?"

The boy looked sheepish. "I don't want to go back in there just yet. I want to be alone... with you..." he finished in a whisper.

The words made the goddess's pulse race. She squeezed his hand. "I feel the same way."

He cocked his head toward the path that led to the dock. "You wanna go for a walk?"

888

Oracle dropped some vegetables into a stew pot and turned to Aurora, who was cutting an onion nearby. "Oh, Aurora, you're cutting them too small."

"I can cut onions, Oracle."

"Yes, but not well," Oracle explained to her sister. "Step aside, step aside."

Aurora rolled her eyes and stood back as her older sister took over. She leaned against the far counter and watched. A moment later, the kitchen door opened and a young, dark-haired goddess entered.

"Hey," Skuld said.

"Hello, young Skuld," Oracle said, not turning away from the cutting board.

Skuld blinked. Did everyone in this house know her? "How do you know my name?"

"You're part of the supporting cast," Oracle told her simply.

The Norn let it go and got back to the subject at hand. "Yeah, anyway, I was just curious about something and hoping you could answer a quick question for me."

"Shoot," Aurora invited.

"Yeah," Skuld went on. "What the heck did you do to my sister?"

"We righted her destiny!" Oracle announced theatrically.

"Don't you mean 'wrote?'" Aurora asked.

"No, I mean 'righted!' It was wrong, now it's right! All is well!" Oracle spun around happily, kitchen knife in hand, prompting the other two goddesses to back away quickly. "Demon interference! Near-insurmountable odds! A Creation-killing singularity!... True, that one I'm still working on... And, yes, Urd is still tracking down Sitri... But aside from that, everything is back on track! For the first time since this whole episode got started, I'm optimistic about the future! What could possibly go wrong from here?!"

They heard a low buzz and blinked. Oracle turned to Aurora as the buzz started again. The Dawn cleared her throat and reached for something on her belt. "It's my Blackberry..."

"Oh, don't you get that!" Oracle hissed.

"Why not?" Aurora asked as the phone buzzed again.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Oracle asked. "It's the perfect literary lead-in for something awful. I guarantee there's something disastrous on that email."

"That's stupid," Aurora said, looking down at the instrument and unlocking it.

"I don't know," Skuld said with concern. "I've read enough novels to see that she's got a point."

"It's probably just Hespera calling in her favor," Aurora said, typing in the password. "Probably wants me to take one of her shifts so she can go out."

"Aurora!" Oracle said, squaring her shoulders imperiously. "As your older sister, I _command thee_ to put that Blackberry down!"

The Dawn stared at her sister defiantly before hitting 'Enter.' Looking down at the message, she took a breath.

"Dammit," she whispered. She looked up to find Oracle glaring at her.

"It's awful, isn't it?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, a little," Aurora admitted.

888

"There's one," Keiichi whispered, pointing out a falling star shooting overhead. Lying next to her at the end of the dock, they had talked about unimportant things up until now, not wanting to break the spell by invoking more immediate and important topics.

He blinked as a sudden question came to him. "This is Heaven... so where are those stars coming from?"

"Many of them are goddesses returning from other realms," Belldandy told him. "And some of them are just falling stars."

His smile fell. It was time to talk about it.

"We can't be together, can we?" he whispered.

He felt her grab his hand and squeeze tightly. "We will," she replied. "It's the way it's supposed to be."

"What if... What if I just use my wish to wish that the singularity doesn't come?" he asked.

"Then it won't," Belldandy told him sadly. "And then, with my mission complete, I'd go back to Heaven and you'd go back to Earth."

"Dammit," he hissed. "What if I ask for you to stay _and_ for the singularity to not appear?"

"It breaks the rules," she said. "You only get _one_ wish, remember?"

"But..."

"Keiichi san, I... I don't want to speak of this right now."

"If you're right, though," he went on. "Then being with you destroys the world. Doesn't that mean that... even now..."

"It took three years to get to that point," Belldandy argued. "In the here and now, it will do no harm. And in the here and now, I'm with you, looking up at the stars and thanking the Almighty that we've been given another chance."

Keiichi turned his head and looked at her, saw the tear running down the side of her face as she looked up at the starlit sky.

"There will be time," she went on quietly. "To worry about all of those things. We won't have a choice. For now... for right now... I want to be with you, under this sky and _know_ that everything will be all right."

He said nothing to this. After a moment of silence, Belldandy suddenly sat up and walked to the end of the dock. Nimbly hopping down, she stood on top of the water and turned to him. "Do you remember when I asked you why I don't fall?"

Keiichi sat up and nodded. "Yeah."

She smiled. "At the time, I told you that it was less important to ask that than to simply accept the way things were and live in that moment." The goddess regarded him and cocked her head. "Do you know why I don't fall?"

"No," he answered quietly.

"Because I have faith," she said. "I have faith that the water will support me, and it does. Just as I have faith that things will work out." She gave him a pleading look. "Have faith, Keiichi san."

"I do have faith," he said, scooting forward so that his legs dangled over the end of the dock. "I have faith in you."

"And I you," she said, leaning up to him. She closed her eyes and brushed her lips against his.

_If nothing else, we have this,_ she thought. _And I promise, if the Almighty One sees fit to give us more time together, I will never pass up another opportunity to do this..._

"Oh, jeez, I knew it!"

Belldandy was so stunned by the sound of her sister's voice that she lost her concentration and fell into the water below with a loud splash!

"Belldandy!" Keiichi cried.

The goddess broke the surface and sputtered as her eyes found Keiichi. Skuld, Oracle and Aurora stood behind him. The Norn was mortified.

"Skuld!" she cried. "I... What... I mean..."

"We're really very very sorry!" Oracle begged quietly. "But we need to talk. All of us. Right now."

888

"'The goddess Urd is enjoying my hospitality,'" Aurora read from the Blackberry as she circled the group sitting on the couches and chairs in the sitting room. "'You have taken someone I love from me, so I have taken someone you love from you. If, like me, you would like your loved one returned alive and mostly undamaged, then you will follow the directions I've outlined below and meet me at eight p.m. local time tomorrow night.'"

Tears ran freely down Belldandy's face as she listened, her eyes cast forward, unable to look at anyone else as Aurora read.

"'Otherwise, I will simply have to amuse myself with her.'" Aurora lowered the Blackberry. "There's... There's an audio file attached, but..."

"What is it?" Belldandy asked.

"Belldandy, I..."

"Play it, please," Belldandy begged.

Aurora swallowed and clicked the file. The sound of Urd's screaming filled erupted from the Blackberry's tiny speaker, prompting Belldandy to bury her face in her hands.

Keiichi wrapped an arm around her to comfort her.

"What do we do now?" Aurora asked.

"That's easy," Skuld said, tears in her own eyes. "We give her the mortal."

"Skuld!" Belldandy snapped. "We cannot give Keiichi to Sitri! That is simply unacceptable and..."

"And she's right."

Belldandy turned her haunted eyes to the owner of that statement and found Keiichi looking down at his feet, unable to meet her gaze even as she begged him with her eyes to look at her.

"Keiichi san?"

"Look," he said quietly, still not facing her. "Even when she was pretending to be angelic... Sitri always had a temper. And after what she did to those Valkyries..." He swallowed and nodded. "She could do that to Urd. She _will_ do that to Urd." He finally raised his head and met her gaze. "We can't let that happen."

"Keiichi san," she breathed. "Putting you in danger in Neesan's place won't solve the problem."

"But maybe this _is_ our chance to solve it!" he replied. He looked to Oracle and Aurora. "I mean... we remember! We know how things are supposed to be! We have what? Four years of memories that she doesn't have!? There's got to be an advantage in there somewhere!"

Skuld put her finger to her lip and hmm'd in thought. Snapping her fingers, she looked up at them brightly. "I could build a homing beacon!" she said. "We put it on you and when this Sitri person takes you away, it'll lead us right to you!"

Aurora sighed. "Sitri is evil and insane... but she's not stupid. It'll be the first thing she checks for."

The younger Norn deflated.

"Keiichi san," Belldandy whispered, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I love my sister, but there must be some other way that doesn't involve putting you in danger."

"I don't think I'll _be _in danger," he said. "She wants me to love her. Killing me isn't going to get her that."

"She'll take you away," Belldandy went on. "She'll hide you..."

"And you'll find me," he replied, smiling for her benefit. "I have faith... that you'll find me."

Belldandy sniffled. "Hai," she said. "My feelings have always managed to find you before."

Something inside Keiichi clicked. "Your feelings always find me," he breathed. His head snapped to the empty chair by the window where Oracle sat during her free time.

"Eh?" Belldandy asked, blinking in puzzlement at Keiichi's actions. She watched the boy rush to the chair and pick up a small, blue box about a foot long and six inches wide. He rushed back to her and held it up to her.

"How fast can you knit?"

888

Urd woke to the sound of voices nearby and turned her head. She could see Sitri speaking into a compact in her hand at the entrance of the tunnel. She strained to hear what was being said and it took her a moment to realize just who Sitri was speaking to.

"But I _had_ to seal them," Sitri whined with a pout. "Surely you understand the lengths a woman will go through to protect her loved ones? We can still win this. We can both get what we want. Please, Mama, don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

There was a pause on the other end as Hild considered her daughter's plea. Urd opened her mouth call out to her mother, but suddenly found a sock in her mouth!

Sitri, her finger pointed at the Norn, smiled at her before turning back to the compact.

"What is your plan?" Hild asked. "If it impresses me, you may continue."

The demoness grinned. "I have taken a goddess prisoner," Sitri told her mother. "I will trade her for my Keiichi san."

"Why would they make such a trade?"

"Why should they not?" Sitri asked. "Who is Keiichi Morisato to them? The only one who would protest is Belldandy, and the whore would be voted down. A goddess vs. a mortal? No contest!"

"Which goddess?" Hild asked.

Sitri waved the question aside as Urd tried shouting through the sock in her mouth.

"It's unimportant," she said. "Just a minor spirit I came across in my travels. The point is, this will work!" Sitri said excitedly.

"And if they don't give you Keiichi?" Hild asked.

Sitri smiled. "Well, come now, Mother, I must still consider the Doublet System!"

"Indeed," Hild said, and Urd could almost see her mother arching her eyebrow.

"Indeed indeed!" Sitri assured her. "If it doesn't work, if they don't negotiate..."

"You will send her back?"

"Scout's honor!" Sitri said, holding up her right hand.

Hild thought for a moment. "Very well. You may continue... Remember, I don't need more dead demons or having to answer for more dead gods! Make your attempt. If they don't go for it, take it like a woman and move on."

"Yes, Mother! I swear it!" Sitri said happily. "If they don't go for the deal, I will send the goddess back!"

She closed her compact, cutting the connection with her mother and looked at Urd, grinning evilly.

"... in pieces..."

888

He sat across from her, watching the darning needles in her hands fly so fast he could barely see them. She didn't look at him, and he wasn't sure if this meant she was fixed on her task or... just didn't want to look at him.

Keiichi knew time was a factor, but he had to speak to her. "Belldandy?"

"Hai?" she asked, the needles not pausing.

"Are you upset with me?"

Her fingers stopped moving. "A little," she replied.

"I see," he whispered.

She looked up at him, her eyes begging him to understand. "It's not like that!" she said. "I just..." The goddess looked down at her lap again. "This risk... it's too much."

"Belldandy..."

"I received a phone call once," she said, her fingers starting to move again. "From a very kind, sympathetic policeman." A tear fell from her eye and landed in the yarn, soaking into the blue material and darkening it. "Who, as gently as he could... told me you were dead."

He didn't say anything.

"And at that moment, my heart stopped beating," she wept. "Suddenly, the world just wasn't the same. And when Peorth arrived and told us about the singularity, about how Creation was tearing itself apart, all I could think was, 'Well, of course it is! Keiichi san is dead!'"

Keiichi watched as two more tears fell into the fabric as she knit.

"I would have given _anything_ to get you back!" she cried, not even having time to wipe her eyes. "Anything to just have you back home! And when we reset Yggdrasil, I thought I had my wish. But that didn't work either. There was no way to win. And Hild... when she showed me that you could have a life where you were happy without me, as much as it broke my heart, I was able to let you go. I hated it, but I did it."

"Belldandy..."

"She showed me a world where you met a nice young woman," Belldandy went on. "A woman you could love and who loved you... who you could grow old with... have children with..." Her fingers paused again. "And the Almighty One help me, Keiichi san... I hated her for it. I would have given anything... my life, my goddesshood, Heaven, Earth, Hell... I would have offered up anything just to be her, to have her life, to have you..."

The goddess looked up at him. "But at least you were _alive_!" she cried quietly. "At least you _could_ be happy! This plan..." She shook her head.

"You'll find me," he said, trying to soothe her nerves.

"Hai... But how quickly?" she asked. "How long will it take? In what condition? Sitri will have you... and that frightens me more than anything."

He swallowed and reached out, placing his hand over hers and forcing her to stop knitting.

"I've died once," he told her quietly. "I'm not about to go through it again for a very long time." Belldandy looked up at him with watery eyes. "You're going to find me," he said confidently. "Where ever she takes me, you're _going to find me_." She looked down at the ground, and he squeezed her hands to force her to lock eyes with him. "I need you to have faith in that too," he told her.

She tried to look away again, but his hand on her cheek stopped her.

"Belldandy," he said, a tone of pleading in his voice. "I _need_ you to believe that." He shook his head. "You're the reason I have faith to begin with. You _are_ my faith. If you can't believe in this... how can I?"

"All the things I feel, Keiichi san... My fear, my dread, my love..."

"You have to save a place for hope, Belldandy," he begged.

"Hai," she whispered. "Hope has a place." She looked up at him and blinked through the tears. Lowering the needles, she took his hand and placed it on her chest, causing the boy to blush just a bit. He felt the goddess's heart beating under his fingers.

"In here," she whispered. "Hope has a place in here."

"Belldandy..."

She looked up at him and smiled. "And I _shall_ find you, Keiichi san." The goddess continued to hold his hand on her chest and squeezed it. "I swear to you I shall find you. No matter what."

Keiichi leaned down as she moved up, catching her lips with his as she reached up and ran her free hand through his hair. He did his best to remember every sensation. Kisses with Belldandy had always been rare, and he always treasured each moment of them, the smell of her perfume, the faint taste of strawberries and the acceleration of her heartbeat under his hand.

When they finally parted, she let her fingers linger in his hair as looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Keiichi," she whispered. "There's not much time."

"There will be," he told her. "When this is over."

888

The mirror sitting on the sandy ground shone brightly for a moment before Aurora rose from it and stepped off, holding her Sun Staff up in preparation for a trap. Her eyes looked over the site Sitri had chosen for the trade. It was in the middle of nowhere. She couldn't even see lights in the distance that would indicate a town or city. Millions of stars shone overhead. They were definitely in the boonies.

She was standing near the entrance of a large, natural tunnel in the side of a cliff. On the far side of this tunnel at the other side of the ridge, an orange campfire crackled happily.

The mirror flashed again and Keiichi appeared, tripping as he ascended and falling into the sand. A moment later, Belldandy rose gracefully from her travel medium and landed nimbly on her feet.

"Do you see her?" she asked anxiously.

Aurora nodded toward the tunnel where something moved. In the orange glow, Belldandy could make out two figures standing side by side. While the moon illuminated the goddesses and the mortal, a shadow fell over the two figures until one held a hand up and summoned a ball of light.

Sitri's determined eyes met theirs. Standing next to her, her arms bound behind her back by a set of emerald cuffs, Urd waited, unsure as to what exactly was to happen.

"It's her," Keiichi muttered, swallowing nervously.

"Let's keep this simple and civil!" Sitri called out to them. "First things first! Pick up that mirror and smash it against the rocks."

Belldandy picked up the mirror and regarded it quizzically. Why would...

"Now!" Sitri commanded.

The Norn reached out and swung the mirror against the cliff face, shattering it into a million pieces.

"Send Keiichi san and I send Urd," Sitri called out. "Any attempt at a double-cross and I'll cut her down to wallet size!"

Keiichi took a breath and zipped up his leather jacket. "This is it," he breathed.

"I want to hug you," Belldandy whimpered quietly. "Kiss you goodbye, but if she sees..."

"I know," he said. He couldn't look at her. If he did, Sitri might pick up on it. "I'll see you soon."

Without another word, Keiichi started down the tunnel.

At the other end, Sitri smiled and gave Urd a light push. "Go on, Oneesama. Let's get together and do lunch sometime. I'd love to spend quality time with my big sister!"

Urd grit her teeth as she started to walk. "Piss off."

Sitri sighed. "Can't we just put this past us, Oneesama?"

The Norn didn't answer. She walked down the tunnel, approaching the mortal boy. As she passed, she whispered to him.

"Good luck, kid."

He nodded, but didn't meet her gaze. "Thanks for always being there, Urd."

She blinked but kept walking, confused by his words.

As Keiichi approached, Sitri ran up to him and hugged him.

"Keiichi san!" she cried. Her hands roamed up and down his back, searching for signs of abuse or bugs. "Did they hurt you?! Are you okay?!"

He summoned the best smile he could. "I'm okay. They didn't hurt me."

"Oh, thank the Almighty One!" she cried in relief, slipping back into her role as easily as if she were putting on an old pair of slippers. "I was so frightened for you when they took you away!"

Keiichi choked back bile. "I knew you'd find me," he said, his thoughts running back home to Belldandy. "You always find me."

"And I always will!" she promised. She suddenly leaned up and kissed him passionately, causing him to step back a pace.

His eyes shot open as he felt the ground rumble and heard the sound of stone cracking behind him.

_Belldandy!_ he begged silently. _Don't! You have to hold it back!_

Sitri pulled away and took his hand, leading him toward the campfire. "Quickly, Keiichi san! While we still can!"

Before he could say anything, they disappeared into the fire's white smoke.

888

Belldandy watched as the demon embraced _her_ Keiichi and then kissed him full on the lips. She felt a flash of very unladylike rage move through her, then felt the ground moving under her feet as a result.

Closing her eyes, she grabbed onto that jealousy and dragged it back into her heart. It wasn't the time for that. She had to be strong now.

She opened her eyes and saw Urd approaching. Rushing forward, she took her sister's arm and helped her into the moonlight. When she turned back, she saw that Sitri and Keiichi had already disappeared, robbing her of an opportunity for a last glance at him.

Finally out of harm's way, Urd weakly fell to her knees. Aurora stepped behind her and released the Norn's arms, which then fell loosely to her sides.

"Neesan?" Belldandy inquired quietly. "Neesan? Are you okay?"

Urd caught her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said. "I just need a minute."

"What happened?" Aurora asked.

"She caught me," Urd growled bitterly. She shook her head. "You were right, Aurora. That demon is crazy. More than crazy! She's psychotic!" She struggled to her feet as she ranted. "I swear, she's going to end up killing that boy..."

"Urd!" Aurora hissed.

"What?!" Urd cried, turning to her defiantly.

Aurora nodded over the Norn's shoulder to Belldandy. Urd turned and found her sister there, tears in her eyes.

"Belldandy," Aurora began quietly. "It'll be okay. We'll get him back before..."

"Hai, we will," Belldandy said assuredly.

Urd knew she was missing something and decided to keep her mouth shut for now until she could catch up on current events. Aurora, however, started to grill her immediately.

"Did you learn anything we can use?" she asked. "We have a way to track him, but even if... when... we find them, we're still going to have to deal with Sitri."

Urd's head was still spinning from her captivity and torment at Sitri's hands. "She's got a hideout," she said. "A tunnel of love. Creepy, psycho..."

"What else?" Aurora pressed.

The goddess thought for a moment and turned to Belldandy. "You still got that ring?" she asked.

"Hai," Belldandy said, offering her hand to Urd so she could see it.

"You remember Mara?" Urd asked. "That demon we sealed years ago? Remember how she was weak against symbols of good fortune?" At Belldandy's nod, she continued. "I think Sitri's the same way, only with symbols of love."

"But she's a love demon, isn't she?" Aurora asked.

"And I think that's why it hurts her," Urd replied. "She represents the dark side of love, but when she comes in contact with symbols of true love, it hurts her. She remarked on your ring, Sis, insisted that you had to have a boyfriend. She said, 'only love burns.'"

"Wait a second," Aurora gasped in dawning horror. "Are you saying that symbols of love... things like gifts... burn her? So... she'd know if she touched one of these things, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Urd said, gaining confidence as it all fell together.

She saw Aurora and Belldandy share a horrified look.

"The sweater," Belldandy breathed, terrified by the revelation. "If she touches it..."

"She'll know she's been had," Aurora finished.

"We must find him!" Belldandy cried. "Now!"

"So what are we waiting for?!" Urd cried, not understanding everything, but knowing urgency was called for.

Aurora kicked the remains of the mirror's frame with her toe. "She's mirrors, I'm the sunrise, and you're TVs," she said with disdain. "You see a Component City around here?"

Before Urd could reply, Belldandy leapt skyward and started hopping from tree-top to tree-top in a direction she hoped would lead her to civilization and a mirror.

There wasn't much time.

888

Keiichi half expected to land at their house in Nekomi, so he was a little thrown when he was thrown from a fireplace to land three inches from the mouth of a grizzly bear.

Crying out, he scampered backward and took a breath as he realized it was just a rug. He took a look at the strange surroundings and found himself in a rustic but cozy cabin. A fire roared in the aforementioned fireplace to his left. A comfortable-looking couch sat nearby and dark curtains covered the windows.

He felt the air move around him and turned to see Sitri appear out of the smoke wisps in the fire, landing on her feet with a triumphant smile.

"Ta-da!" she announced theatrically. "Better late than never, right? And it's the perfect place to hide!"

It clicked in Keiichi's mind. The morning Belldandy took him to Heaven he and Sitri were going to a cabin in the mountains.

"Yeah," he said hesitantly. "It's... It's great."

"Oh! One thing I have to do first! Be right back!" she told him, rushing into a nearby room across the hall from the kitchen.

Keiichi watched her disappear through the doorway and flinched as he heard the sound of shattering glass followed by the sound of several grunts, hammer blows and smaller pieces of glass breaking. A moment later, Sitri slinked back into the living room, casually tossing a hammer onto a nearby shelf.

"That should make sure we're not disturbed," she purred. "Now then..." She approached the boy and gently placed her hands on his chest, running her fingers down the front of his leather jacket.

"S...Sitri..."

"I missed you so much," she whispered. "When they took you... I... I went a little crazy..."

The boy was silent for a moment. "Oh yeah?" he asked casually.

"Hai," she breathed, leaning into him. "I'd do anything for you, Keiichi san. I would have done anything to get you back..."

"I... I knew you would," he replied.

She drew a little circle on his chest with her finger. "What did they do?" she asked. "Did they torture you?"

"No," Keiichi said, racking his brain. He knew he had to say something at least close to the truth or else she'd get suspicious that he knew what she was.

She waited for him to elaborate.

"They... They said you were a demon," he told her, the truth.

Sitri giggled. "A demon? Me?"

"Yeah," Keiichi said. "They tried to say you were using me for some... diabolical scheme," he went on. "I knew it was crap. I knew... not you." This was the truth as he, at one point, felt that way. It seemed like another life. With his old memories intact, the last two months seemed almost like a book he had read rather than his life.

"I'm so happy you have faith in me, Keiichi san," she said as she hugged him. "It's that faith that sustains me."

It was weird hearing those words, so close to the ones he had spoken to Belldandy. For a moment, he felt a swell of guilt for what he was doing, setting her up for the goddesses to seal her.

Of course... with no mirror or TV, there was no way for them to get to him unless....

He looked up at a nearby clock. It was three a.m. here. At least three more hours until dawn.

Sitri suddenly stepped back. "Oh my!" she cried. "You must be starving! I'll cook for you! What would you like?"

Keiichi searched his mind for a way to stall for time. "Um... You know what really sounds good?" he asked. Sitri smiled and waited for him to continue. "Do you remember that seafood stew you made about a month ago?"

"My Seafood Nagasaki?" she asked.

"Yeah..."

"Hmmm..." she said. "That's a lot of ingredients I'd need to get, and a long prep time... Are you sure you wouldn't prefer something right now that I..."

He bit his lip and went all in. "Yeah," he said. "It's just that... while they were holding me, all I could think of was being back with you and eating your wonderful cooking... I was just hoping that..."

"Say no more!" she cried, clasping her hands in front of her. "I'll just make a run to the market and get what I need! You stay here and make yourself comfortable!"

She gave him a quick kiss. "Back soon!" Without another word, she hopped into the fire and disappeared.

Realizing he might not get a better chance, Keiichi rushed to the door and threw it open, intending to run to the nearest neighbor's house and find a mirror. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks.

Snow was whipping over the tiny front porch, and the boy adjusted his leather jacket. There was nothing outside the cabin but snow and trees. It looked like there was a small foot trail leading into the dark forest but there was no car, no snowmobile and no light. He knew if he stood outside for more than ten minutes, he'd freeze to death.

He stepped back inside and shut the door, his eyes wide. The mortal swallowed nervously. He was trapped. Sitri had chosen a place that would not only keep the goddesses from finding him but would keep him trapped there.

888

Urd had to struggle to keep up with her sister as Belldandy leapt from tree-top to tree-top. It was more than just being exhausted from her time with Sitri. Belldandy was running as if Hild herself was after her.

"Belldandy!" she called out. "Hold on! I can't..."

The exhaustion catching up with her, Urd landed on a rock outcropping to catch her breath.

Finally noticing her sister's situation, Belldandy turned and headed back to check on her, landing next to her as Aurora finally caught up.

"Neesan!" Belldandy cried. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," Urd said. "But what's going on? Where are you going? You don't even know where they are!"

"I'll find him," Belldandy replied.

Urd regarded her sister in puzzlement. A few days ago, she left a Belldandy who doubted herself and was nursing a crush on a mortal boy. The goddess who stood before her now was somehow more mature, more sure of herself.

But she knew Sitri...

"And then what?" Urd asked her, a tone of challenge in her voice. "And then what?!" she repeated loudly. "Sitri isn't some Vector daemon causing flu outbreaks! She's got power! A power born from her twisted vision of love and a potent hatred for anyone who would interfere with it!"

"I know," Belldandy whispered.

Urd blinked and shook her head as if trying to make sense of her sister. "You know?! You _know_?! A few days ago you called the NOSC in tears because you were so afraid of her! Now what?! You're going to bust down her front door, yell 'BELLDANDY SMASH!' and throw her out the window?!"

Belldandy said nothing.

The half-demon gently put her hands on her sister's shoulders and lowered her voice, hoping to get through to her. "Belldandy... you can't beat her."

"I can," Belldandy said. She smiled. "You told me how."

"What?"

"Hai," the Norn said, closing her eyes. "You said it yourself. She's weak against love. When I fought her last time, it was different. I had nothing to fight _for_. Now... Now I have Keiichi san..."

"The power of love?" Urd asked in amazement. "That's your plan?! You're going to defeat her with the power of love!? This isn't some romance novel, Sis! She'll kill you! She _wants_ to kill you! So bad she can taste it!"

"If I do nothing, Keiichi san will die."

Urd paused, the goddess side of her hating herself for what she was about to say. "Maybe... That's just how it's supposed to be."

Belldandy gave her a venomous look that softened to one of pity. It wasn't Urd's fault. She didn't know Keiichi, didn't remember him. There was a time when her older sister would have thrown herself into danger on the boy's behalf, but that Urd was gone. All she knew was that her sister was walking into danger for the sake of a boy she had only known a few days.

"That is _not_ the way it is supposed to be," Belldandy assured her. "I'm going to find him. And I'm going to save him.... Or I will die in the attempt."

Urd looked at her in a mixture of pity, anger and fear.

"Have faith, Neesan," Belldandy whispered with a smile. "Destiny still has a say."

888

Keiichi forced the last spoonful of soup into his mouth and swallowed. He offered the demon sitting on the other side of the table a smile.

Sitri watched him as he finished his meal, happy that she could bring him joy and knowing that she would soon take joy from him for herself.

"How about a drink?" she asked softly. "Cocoa? Maybe with a shot of peppermint schnapps?" She stood up and led him to the couch, gently pushing him down into it. "I'll fix it while you relax with a cigarette. You've had a rough few days."

"Yeah, that sounds good... but... no smokes," he said. He saw her blink. "I'm quitting," he said.

Sitri giggled. "As you wish," she said. "They'll be here if you change your mind." She left the cigarettes on the end table and went back to the kitchen.

Sitting closer to the fire, the mortal started to get warm. He pulled off his leather jacket and placed it over the back of the couch. His hands touched the fabric of the blue sweater he had worn beneath it.

_She'll find me,_ he thought. _She will..._

Sitri emerged from the kitchen with a cup of cocoa. Smiling, she placed it on the end table and stepped toward him, her hips swaying from side to side.

"My Keiichi san," she whispered. "All mine." Before the boy could come up with some excuse not to, the demon embraced him, kissing him before resting her head on his shoulder with a smile.

His heart raced, but it was out of fear rather than emotion. Her hands were running up and down his back.

"We'll hide here for awhile," she said. "Then we'll start over where they'll never find us. We'll be together forever... and not even death will part us..."

She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of possessing him so completely. He belonged to her now. She had taken him from Belldandy.

Sitri had won.

The demon adjusted her head. The material in his sweater was making her itch. It must be wool... Her eyes flashed open as that itching became something else.

Gasping in pain, she stepped back and looked at her hands, watching them turn a dark, angry red. She reached up and touched her cheek where it had cuddled against his shoulder, feeling the skin there dry and flake to her touch.

"Sitri!?" Keiichi asked. "Are you all right?! What is it?!"

She grit her teeth as rage flowed through her. Keiichi stared at her in horrified awe, clueless as to what was happening to the demon. As the skin on her cheek started to peel away, Sitri grabbed him by either side of the head and pushed him down to the couch.

"Sitri! What are..."

Before he could finish, the demoness leaned down and ran her tongue over his lips. Stunned, Keiichi didn't move.

But Sitri wasn't kissing him. She tasted his lips, searching for something she hoped she wouldn't find...

Because so help her if she did...

_Shrimp, noodles, soup stock..._ her mind inventoried. She went down the list of everything that had touched his lips in the last few days. She recognized the bitter taste of her own lipstick, the food he had had for breakfast that morning and...

_Strawberry..._

She growled. It wasn't strawberries the fruit, or strawberry syrup, or strawberry ice cream...

It was strawberry lip gloss, something the demoness had never... ever... worn.

Sitri stood up and looked down at the befuddled and frightened boy below her.

"Sitri?"

"You... cheating... bastard," she bit out.

"Sitri?" he asked again, a ball of ice falling from his throat into his stomach.

"You sat there while I cooked for you," she hissed, suddenly grabbing him by the throat. "Sat there in the sweater that strumpet... that _whore... _gave to you!"

"Sitri!" he croaked as he struggled for breath. "Wait!"

She grabbed the neck of the sweater and watched thin wisps of smoke float up from between her fingers. With a quick yank, she ripped the sweater from the boy and tossed it into the fireplace.

"No!" he cried.

He felt himself rise into the air as Sitri lifted him bodily from the couch. The next moment he was flying across the room, coming to a sudden stop as his right shoulder struck the wall. He heard a sickening pop and cried out in agony as his arm popped out of its socket. The boy hit the ground, gasping in pain.

Sitri looked down at him with wrath in her eyes as the mortal writhed painfully on the ground, holding his dislocated shoulder with his left hand.

"Where do you get the balls to do such a thing to _me_?!" she demanded.

"It's... It's not what you think," he sputtered out. He turned as he felt her fingers around his neck again, lifting him off the ground.

"She KISSED YOU!!!" she screamed at him before tossing him to the other side of the room like a rag doll.

Keiichi felt liquid seep into his eye and touched his forehead with the fingers of his good hand, finding blood smeared there. Sitri stood over him, her eyes closed as if she were trying to hold back.

When Keiichi had reassured Belldandy of this plan, he had told her that he was sure Sitri wouldn't kill him. While that might be true, the boy suddenly realized there was nothing keeping her from beating him to just this side of death and then healing him... just so she could do it all over again.

Every plan has flaws...

Sitri swallowed. "Calm down, Sitri," she said quietly to herself. "Just calm down... Every couple fights... This is our first one. It's actually kind of cute..."

Keiichi didn't think it was very cute as a fresh flash of pain from his shoulder wracked his body. He looked around desperately, hoping to see a mirror, but he realized that Sitri was too smart for that.

Help wasn't coming.

He kicked out with his feet, pushing himself toward the front door while Sitri was distracted. Maybe if he could get outside, he could make a run for it.... and maybe find civilization before he froze to death...

Sitri, meanwhile, was still ranting to herself.

"Men stray, it's the way they're wired," she told herself. "He's a mortal man, he's weak... Forgiveness is divine, Sitri... Forgiveness... it's divine, but we need atonement... Yes, we need atonement first..."

He was halfway to the door when Sitri picked him up again and planted his back firmly against the wall.

"Keiichi san, I want to forgive you," she said almost rationally. "But before I do, we need to talk about your fidelity problems."

"Okay," he muttered. "Shoot..."

"I offer you everything, Keiichi san," she said. "My heart, my soul, my love... All I ask in return is your love, your heart... your soul... and your faith and fidelity." In a flash of anger, Sitri shoved him roughly against the wall. "When you cavort with shameless tramps like Belldandy, it hurts me, Keiichi san. It hurts my heart."

"I'm sorry?" he tried.

"Not yet, you're not," she said almost sympathetically. "Before I can forgive you, you must atone for your actions. You must be made to feel a pain equal to what I felt when I discovered your dalliances. You must hurt on the outside as much as I hurt on the inside."

"Oh," he let out weakly. He cried out in pain as Sitri grabbed his dislocated arm and swung him around by it, launching him across the cabin again. He landed near the front window and struggled to his knees, grabbing the curtain to try to pull himself up.

"Keiichi san, I don't enjoy hurting you like this," Sitri said as she made her way to him. "I'm doing this because I love you. Because I know that after all of this, we'll have a greater appreciation for one another's feelings."

The curtain rod gave way under his weight, and Keiichi fell back to the floor, the curtain falling on top of him. The sky outside was turning orange.

"I know after this, that you'll never stray again," Sitri said with a smile. "Ever."

He felt the demoness take hold of his ankle and start to pull him away from the window. Keiichi grabbed hold of the other curtain in a desperate bid to resist.

Outside, the sun started to rise.

"Come now, Keiichi san, I promise this won't take more than another hour or so."

Sitri stopped as she heard a new noise. The light jingle of brass on brass. Turning, she saw something that amazed her.

Belldandy stood at the far wall, the light of the rising sun illuminating her combat outfit and the golden staff in her hands. An expression of fury, so unnatural on her, marred her face.

"Belldandy!" Keiichi gasped out painfully.

"Belldandy," Sitri said with a predatory grin.

The Norn raised the staff, the bangles at the end jingling against one another.

"Get away from my boyfriend!" she hissed.

Sitri dropped Keiichi's ankle. "This will only take a few moments, hon," she said to him as she turned to this new threat.

Belldandy didn't move, didn't fidget. There was no fear in her eyes this time, just an anger born of seeing a loved one in pain.

"So the slut herself appears!" Sitri announced theatrically.

"Leave him alone," Belldandy ordered. "He's yours no longer."

Sitri smiled and laughed. "Nonsense! Keiichi and I are lovers! Soul mates! Isn't that right, Keiichi san?"

"I think I'd like to see other people," Keiichi commented weakly, only seconds from passing out from his injuries.

"You're just upset," Sitri said. "That feeling will pass."

She turned back to Belldandy. "And you are interrupting our vacation." Raising a hand, two bands of silver light leapt from the demon's fingers and slammed against the Norn, throwing her back against the wall.

Belldandy cried out and raised the staff, channeling her power into holding back the dark attack. The silver whips stopped a foot short of the Norn and struggled to get to her.

_She's so strong!_ she thought. _Are these her feelings for Keiichi san?_

Sitri smiled at her as the silver bands of light continued to assault the Norn's defenses. "You can't hold out against me forever, Belldandy."

"Belldandy!" Keiichi cried, struggling to his knees. The boy looked to the window, saw that the sun was fully up and realized the desperation of their situation. With no mirrors or TVs, Belldandy had traveled through Aurora's travel medium, but there was only time to send her. Help wasn't coming.

Belldandy was facing Sitri alone.

"Belldandy!" he cried again. "Just get out of here! Run!"

Struggling to keep Sitri's attack at bay, Belldandy could only just make out Keiichi's words. If she left now, Sitri would continue to hurt him. If she stayed...

_What did I tell Neesan?_ she asked herself. _That last time I had nothing... no one... to fight for?_

The staff felt heavy in her hands. It began to heat up under the relentless assault, burning her fingers.

_This is not the power love gives someone, _she thought. _This is its dark side, its jealous rage, its obsession... It's not pure..._

Sitri took a step toward her, increasing the pressure on the Norn.

Belldandy's eyes went to Keiichi, his bloodied face, the arm hanging loosely at his side. _That is what Sitri's love has wrought,_ she thought. _Our love..._ Memories of Keiichi smiling at her, of their few and far-between kisses, of their sporadic moments alone, of dancing, working together to build their life together in Nekomi...

_... that is pure._

The silver bands broke through and wrapped around Belldandy's staff. The Norn closed her eyes and let memories of her and Keiichi's life together come to the fore, not just memories of events and places, but faces and feelings. The love she shared with Keiichi had not only touched their lives, but the lives of their friends and families. And their love touched Keiichi and Belldandy.

_True love is not shared by two alone. It is the lives it touches..._

Belldandy looked up as a golden light spread out from her heart, moving down her arms to her hands where it escaped and became two bands of gold. The tendrils of light, her love, wrapped around the grey whips of Sitri's emotions and made their way toward the demon like fast-moving vines.

Sitri realized she was being attacked and poured more power into her own, but Belldandy seemed unaffected. She stood there, her eyes closed as the golden light moved closer and closer to Sitri.

Before Sitri thought to disengage, it was too late. The wisps of light touched her hands and ran up her arms, wrapping themselves around her body. The demon cried out as the light began to burn her, and she knew then what it was. It was no magic spell or blast of energy. It was Belldandy's feelings, her love, and its purity burned Sitri like acid.

The demon screamed and struggled in its grasp as she was exposed to what real love was. She wept as she realized the terrible secret; that what she thought was love was nowhere close to what she was seeing now.

Opening her eyes and seeing Sitri in such pain, Belldandy reached into a pocket in her cloak and drew out a CD. Tossing it toward the demon, the CD touched Sitri's forehead and began to glow with an eerie green light.

Sitri, tears in her eyes, looked at Belldandy as the green light began to pull her into the seal.

"I love him so much," she wept.

"I know," Belldandy whispered in understanding.

The CD erupted in a bright green flash, and Sitri disappeared. The disk hit the ground, the label visible.

_When the Man Comes Around._

Belldandy looked down at the disk and let out a breath. Hearing Keiichi grunt in pain nearby broke her out of her thoughts, and she ran to him.

"Keiichi san!" she cried, dropping the staff as she knelt next to him. "Keiichi san, are you okay?"

The mortal boy rolled painfully onto his back, and Belldandy gently touched his face as she assessed his wounds. He looked up at her and smiled.

"You found me," he said.

She smiled. "Hai. I promised I would."

Placing her hands on his chest and shoulder, she channeled healing energy into him, mending his injuries.

"Sitri?" he asked.

"Sealed," she said. "Perhaps... with time... she'll find some semblance of peace."

"I hope so," he said. "It's weird," he whispered. "I remember my time with her... before you came back... before I remembered you..."

"And you feel something for her," Belldandy finished.

"Yeah," he admitted guiltily. "There were times when... When, even looking back on it, I don't think she was faking it."

"That is your strength, Keiichi san," she said as she healed him. "You remember the good... even in evil. It's one of the reasons I love you."

"Belldandy..."

She smiled down at him. "How do you feel?"

He moved his shoulder and found the pain had gone. "Better," he confessed.

The goddess stood up as Keiichi climbed carefully to his feet. Taking a look around at the trashed cabin, he turned to her.

"So... now what?" he asked quietly.

"We should return to Heaven," she said. "Aurora had an idea for what to do if I managed to seal Sitri."

"And how do we do that?" he asked.

"Eh?" Belldandy asked.

"Well... There are no mirrors," he pointed out. "No TV, and the sun doesn't come up again for another twenty-four hours."

She cutely put her finger to her lip in thought. "Then we're alone here. I suppose we'll have to wait," she said. She smiled. "I could cook breakfast."

At that moment, it was like things were back to normal. "That would be great," he said.

888

Aurora entered the sitting room with a triumphant look on her face. "It's done!"

"Done?" Urd asked.

"Done!" Aurora repeated. She turned to Keiichi. "They came to a deal. Sitri will remain in her seal for one hundred years, plenty of time for you to live a long, happy life without having to worry about her coming after you. If Hild or any other demon comes after you during that time, she stays in that seal the full five hundred. Hild has agreed. It seems she cares about her daughter after all."

"Who would have guessed?" Urd whispered sardonically.

"So you're good to go!" Aurora finished happily. "You can go home whenever you want!"

Keiichi swallowed. "Go home?" He turned and caught Belldandy's eye. The goddess looked back at him sadly. They had spent the last three days in Heaven, waiting for Aurora's plan to bear fruit, and now that it had...

Aurora wasn't dense enough to miss what was passing between them. "Yeah," she said in a more subdued tone.

"Then... I guess this is it," he whispered.

"Hai," Belldandy replied sadly.

The two stared at one another.

"This is crap," Urd remarked. Over the past three days, she had gotten the full story out of Belldandy and Keiichi and couldn't believe there was nothing that could be done. "Just go with him anyway. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Um... the end of the world," Aurora replied.

"So," Keiichi said, clearing his throat. "I guess..."

"Jumping the gun a little, aren't we?" Oracle interrupted from her chair as she knit a sweater. At their questioning look, she went on. "You two still have business, don't you?"

They blinked. "The wish," Belldandy said in realization.

"Yeah," Keiichi said, scratching the back of his head. "I keep forgetting that in this timeline you haven't granted me one yet."

"And you _are_ owed," Oracle pointed out.

He sighed. "What's the point?" he asked in resignation. "If I can't wish for what I want, I might as well sell it on Ebay."

Belldandy looked miserable. "Keiichi san... please. I know that... we can't be together... but please... let me make you happy... just one more time."

"Who said you can't have what you want?" Oracle asked. She sighed. "One of the problems with script writing is that words _mean_ something. Think about it. What's the problem?"

"Being with Belldandy destroys the world," Urd supplied.

"Wrong!" Oracle cried in response. "Try again!"

"Being in close proximity to a goddess over an extended period of time causes a linked singularity between Keiichi and Yggdrasil," Aurora explained.

"Correct! You get a cookie!"

"Same difference," Urd grumbled.

"Now, what was the wish that started all this?" Oracle asked.

"That a goddess like Belldandy always stays by my side," Keiichi replied, the words forever seared into his mind.

"And what is the word shared in both the problem and the cause?" Oracle asked.

"'Goddess?'" Aurora answered.

Oracle waited for Keiichi and Belldandy to get it. "It would be a shame to derail Destiny for the sake of a single word, ne?"

The two looked at one another in hopeful realization.

"Can it really be that easy?" Belldandy whispered.

Keiichi looked from Oracle to Belldandy and back again. "Wait! No! I... I can't do that to Belldandy!" He looked at the goddess. "Belldandy... I mean... you're a... this... This is your home! I can't..."

She stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around him. "No, Keiichi san," she whispered. "_This _is home. 'Heaven' is a word you call a place. But this..." She squeezed him. "This is what it really means. We both have a dream. If we want to live that dream, we have to be willing reach out and take it."

"Belldandy," he whispered in awe.

"It's not just your wish anymore, Keiichi san," she said. "It belongs to us both. I want this. I want to be with you. And I'll sacrifice what I must to make that so."

"I don't like where this conversation's going," Skuld threw in.

Belldandy stepped back three paces and smiled. "Do it, Keiichi san."

Keiichi swallowed and took a breath. "I... I think I know what I would like you to grant me," he said the familiar words.

"Hai?" Belldandy prompted with a smile.

"I would like..."

"Hai?"

He paused, wondering if Oracle was right or wrong. Would simple word-play be enough? "... a _woman_ like you... to always be by my side."

Belldandy smiled as the emblem on her forehead began to glow. The air around them became electrified and began to swirl around them at hurricane strength. A blue beam of light shot upward from Belldandy's emblem, smashing into the glass ceiling above them and into the sky. The rest of them ducked as glass rained down from above.

The goddess rose a foot into the air, her eyes shut as the wish request was sent, processed and an answer sent back. Keiichi watched anxiously, unsure as to whether or not this would even work. If it did...

The beam of light tapered off, but Belldandy remained in the air. The other goddesses gasped as the blue emblems on Belldandy's face began to dissolve, sublimating from the Norn's face leaving only unmarred skin. Her earring began to glow with a pale, golden light, and the others watched as cracks appeared in the jeweled seal that kept the full force of Belldandy's goddess powers at bay.

With a crack, the earring shattered.

The air stopped moving, and Belldandy fell to the ground in a heap. Keiichi, Urd and Skuld rushed forward to help her but were unsure of what they could do.

"Belldandy!?" Keiichi cried, helping the Norn sit up as her eyes fluttered weakly. "Belldandy? Are you all right?"

"Look at her face," Skuld whispered. "Her emblem's gone."

Belldandy touched her forehead, unable to tell if that was true or not. "Keiichi san?" she asked tiredly. "I... I feel strange..."

"What should we do?" Keiichi asked.

"Did it work?" Urd asked.

"I don't know!" Keiichi replied. "Let's get her to bed so she can rest." He started to help the goddess to her feet.

Belldandy reached down to push herself up and cried out in pain. Holding her hand in front of her face, she saw crimson blood in her palm. Wincing, she pulled a small shard of glass from her hand and continued to stare at it.

"I'm... I'm bleeding," she whispered. She smiled happily.

Urd grabbed her hand and looked at it, saw the smear of mortal blood in her sister's palm. Grabbing her sister's wrist, she pressed two fingers into the back of her forearm, finding a steady, slow pulse. She looked up at Belldandy incredulously. "Belldandy..."

"Wait!" Skuld cried. "Is Oneesama okay?! What's going on?!"

It was Belldandy's eyes that sealed the deal. Staring into them, Urd found herself looking into the eyes of a wonderful person with a good heart, but the spark of light that came with immortality and the power of the cosmos itself was gone. She wasn't sure if it detracted from her beauty or added to it. But it wasn't there.

The half-demon smiled wistfully. "You got your wish, Sis," she said. "You're not a goddess anymore."

"WHAT?!" Skuld cried. She turned to Keiichi and growled. "What the heck did you do to her!?"

"He granted my wish," Belldandy whispered with a smile.

Standing off to the side, Oracle looked very pleased with herself.

Looking at her, Aurora sighed. "Oh, go ahead. I guess you earned this one."

"And they both lived happily ever after!" Oracle announced theatrically. "The End!"

"No," Belldandy told her, looking up from her bleeding hand with a bright smile. "It's not the end! Don't you see?! What's past is prologue. It was all a dream. And before a dream can come true, it must first end. This..." She looked up at Keiichi, who grinned down at her. "This... is only the beginning of the rest of the story."

_**EPILOGUE**_

_With Keiichi and Belldandy's wish granted and the threat of the singularity removed from play, the two mortals returned to Earth to begin their lives anew. While the Duchess of Malebolge may have been certifiably insane, she was also fiscally responsible and had insured their house, giving Keiichi enough money to put a deposit on a new apartment above a video rental store._

Keiichi placed the box on the counter and started to unpack. The new apartment was small, but comfortable. "Cozy," Belldandy had called it, and he had to agree. It wasn't the temple, but that had been a different time, a different life... a dream. This was a new life, and they were starting fresh.

The box emptied, he turned and jumped in surprise.

"What's up, Big Brother?" Megumi asked, standing not two feet from him, an expectant look on her face.

"Hey, Megumi," Keiichi said. "How was your trip?"

"Keima and Takano say hi," Megumi replied darkly. "My apartment has been ransacked, and I can only assume that it has something to do with your phone call... So... Explanation?"

"Well," Keiichi began...

"Ah! Megumi san! Welcome home!" Belldandy cried as she entered the apartment with another box.

Megumi blinked in surprise. "Belldandy san?! What... What are you doing here?" Megumi asked her.

"Keiichi san and I live together!"

Megumi's eyes narrowed as she turned to her brother. "The plot thickens," she noted.

"Heh... heh heh..." he replied nervously. "Here we go again..."

888

_Belldandy, of course, had the most difficulty in this new situation. Despite outward appearances, there were a great many differences between goddesses and mortal women. While she welcomed the new emotions and sensations that came with mortality, the knowledge that she was now able to bear children, and the new sense of adventure that came with learning the ins and outs of the life of a mortal, she still had to learn to deal with the physiological differences between goddess and woman. A sense of peace is difficult to find when trying to accustom oneself to the hormones generated by the body of a young woman..._

Keiichi opened the front door as he removed his motorcycle helmet and stepped inside the apartment. "Belldandy?" he called. "Are you here?"

He closed the door and turned just in time to see the young former goddess crash into him, kissing him full on the lips. The boy cried out as his girlfriend knocked him to the floor.

888

_While Keiichi had to learn to adjust to his new memories and find ways to explain Belldandy's presence, the two did have help. Although Urd and Skuld could not spend significant amounts of time on Earth, they were willing to help their sister by using Yggdrasil to hack Earth computers while no one was looking..._

Keiichi looked over the mail on the counter. "You got something from NIT," he said, puzzled. He handed the envelope to Belldandy, who blinked and opened it.

She smiled triumphantly and held the letter up. "I've been accepted to Nekomi Tech with a full scholarship!" she declared.

The boy blinked. "But... How.... I... That's great!" he finally said. "When did you apply?! We've only been here for a few days!"

"I didn't!" she said, starting to feel confused herself.

It came to them at the same time. "Urd and Skuld," they said in unison.

Keiichi found another envelope with her name on it. "Bank of Nekomi," he said, handing it to her. "It says your new debit card is enclosed."

"They really shouldn't use Yggdrasil like that," she noted as she opened the envelope.

"You going to send it back?" he asked.

She paused as she considered the idea. "I could," she said. "But my sisters _did_ go through a lot of trouble..."

He smiled. "Yeah, I bet they did." Turning back to the mail, he suddenly froze and cleared his throat. "I think this one is courtesy of Urd," he said, handing the next one to her.

Belldandy looked down at the issue of _Modern Bride_ with her name on it. She felt a warmth in her cheeks as she smiled.

"Keiichi san?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Please remember to finish your foreign language credits on time," she said. "It would be nice if you could get that job you wanted."

"Yeah?" he replied noncommittally.

"Hai," she said softly. "It would be nice if... after we graduate, you could have a stable job... Then... perhaps..."

He looked down at her hand, at the ring that still rode her finger, and blushed. "Then..." he said, clearing his throat nervously, "...maybe... maybe I could get you a _new_ ring..."

Belldandy blushed brighter. "Hai... I... I would like that very much."

Keiichi coughed, breaking the moment, nice as it was. Belldandy looked up at the clock and saw it was getting near dinner time.

"Time to start dinner," she declared. "What would you like?"

"I have an idea," he said, taking her hand. "How about we take it easy tonight? We could order take-out and rent a movie."

Belldandy had to admit the idea was appealing. She was tired from moving boxes and unpacking all day. Not having the powers of an all-mighty being did have downsides. "That sounds wonderful," she said.

He smiled. "Okay. I'll run downstairs and rent something, and you order the food."

"Hai!"

"What would you like to see?" he asked.

Her smile lit up the room. "Something where the boy gets the girl in the end," she said, embracing him.

He squeezed her and kissed her forehead. "Sounds good to me." Releasing her from the embrace, he grabbed his keys and wallet and started for the door.

_For the two mortals, Destiny had returned to its proper track. It never really mattered how the two were together, just as long as they were. Belldandy had been right. The past was prologue. Everything they had done in the other timelines led to this. After three years of constant challenge, they could finally let their love bloom. Things had returned to normal..._

Belldandy watched him walk out and picked up the phone. Humming happily, she dialed the number for the Chinese delivery place down the street. She heard someone pick up on the other end.

"Hello, I..."

"Hi Hi!" she heard a familiar voice call out. "You've reached the Earth Help Center! Fortunately for you, you have been selected to receive a wish from a goddess! I shall be there shortly to discuss your needs, so please wait one moment!"

The person hung up.

Belldandy stood there, wide-eyed.

"Oh no," she breathed. Hearing a rattle nearby, she turned and saw the camera Keiichi had recently bought from Megumi starting to glow. The lens cap popped off, and a figure bathed in light rose from the camera's lens as Belldandy looked on in horrified realization.

_Well... normal for THEM, anyway..._

888

Aurora closed the binder with Oracle's latest draft of the script and narrowed her eyes at her sister, who sat in her chair, casually knitting with a knowing smile on her face.

"You... are a cold, _evil_ goddess," Aurora noted.

Oracle stopped knitting and looked up at her little sister innocently. "Am I?"

"I thought you were going to cut them some slack?" Aurora asked accusingly.

"How would _that_ be _funny_?" Oracle countered.

Not knowing how to respond to that, Aurora gave up. "I'm taking a bath, drinking some cocoa and going to bed."

"Oh, don't be angry, Aurora!" Oracle begged with a smile. "Just because I'm rooting for them doesn't mean they get to have it easy!"

The Dawn didn't answer. Oracle heard the bathroom door slam and sighed. Returning to her knitting, she quietly whispered to herself.

"And they all lived happily ever after.... for the most part... the..."

_**... END**_

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Well, that's the end of _Second Dawn_. I hope you liked it. And despite my inclination to rush right into a brand new exciting fic the way WillZ wants me to... I did promise to finish Choix, so that's the plan until either I deploy or I get distracted by a bright, shiny, NEW fic idea....

Which, I have to admit, is pretty freaking likely.

Special thanks go out to my prereaders, WillZ (who never met an opportunity to add a lesbian relationship to a fic he didn't like) and my wife, SethraK (whose mighty Grammar Mallet, Gramjolnir, cut the number of commas and exclamation points in this fic down to about 500 from its starting point at 1.7 billion.)

Since Yumi Touma did it at the end of her book, I feel inclined... no, ENTITLED... to do the same. So here's some of the music that helped inspire this fic.

"_Hope Has a Place" - Enya_

"_Sanvean" - Sarah Brightman_

"_(You're the) Devil in Disguise" - Elvis Presley_

"_Mad World" - Gary Jules_

"_Walking Through the Empty Age" - Yoko Ishida_

"_Joey" - Concrete Blonde_

"_One of These Days" - Michelle Branch_

"_Landslide" - Stevie Nicks_

"_The Man Comes Around" - Johnny Cash_


End file.
